Key facts
- Youth employment has fallen sharply in sectors highly exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
- Between June 2022 and June 2026, jobs for people aged 15 to 29 fell by 285,000.
- 268,000 jobs, or 94 percent, of the total decline were in AI-exposed sectors like IT services, publishing, and programming.
- Youth employment in IT services dropped 31.4% and in publishing fell 27.4% over the period.
- The unemployment rate gap between young graduates and those with secondary education widened after 2022.
Youth employment has seen a significant decrease in sectors heavily influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) technology, particularly since the advent of generative AI chatbots. A report from the Bank of Korea (BOK) revealed that between June 2022 and June 2026, the number of jobs held by individuals aged 15 to 29 fell by 285,000. A substantial 94 percent of this decline, amounting to 268,000 jobs, occurred in sectors highly exposed to AI, including information technology (IT) services, publishing, computer programming, and professional services.
In contrast, the report noted an increase in employment for individuals in their 50s, with their numbers rising by 230,000 over the same period, and 173,000 of these gains were in AI-exposed sectors. Specific sectors experienced notable drops in youth employment: IT services saw a 31.4% decrease, publishing (which includes software and web design) declined by 27.4%, computer programming by 16.6%, and professional services by 11.6%.
The BOK report also highlighted the vulnerability of young people with higher education to AI technology. From 2019 to 2022, the average unemployment rate for young people with undergraduate or graduate degrees was 8.2%, compared to 8% for those with secondary school or junior college diplomas. After 2022, these rates fell to 7% and 5.4% respectively, widening the gap to 1.6 percentage points.
Researchers at the BOK suggested that while the country's declining population may have contributed to changes in youth employment, the rise of AI has likely accelerated this trend. Oh Sam-il, a researcher at the BOK's research department, stated that AI can significantly increase young people's productivity, which also implies they can be replaced by AI. He added that AI is accelerating the trend of a diminishing career ladder for young individuals.