According to a report by the Bank of Korea (BOK) released on August 13, youth employment in industries with high exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) technology has declined sharply since the emergence of generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT.
The report comes amid growing concern among experts and policymakers about AI's impact on the global labor market, particularly on young workers, who are often seen as vulnerable to the wave of AI-driven automation.
The BOK study used data on occupational exposure to AI, combined with industry-level employment figures, to compare conditions before and after generative AI tools became widespread. The results show that young people working in sectors such as finance, insurance, information technology, and administrative services experienced significantly more pronounced job losses than those in industries with lower AI exposure.
Analysts attribute this trend to the fact that office work, data processing, and repetitive tasks—which make up a large share of young workers' roles—are precisely the tasks that generative AI can quickly learn and replicate. Over the past two years, many South Korean companies have proactively cut new hiring or declined to renew contracts for young employees in positions that are easy to replace with AI.
The BOK said this is a sign that the pace of labor market restructuring in South Korea is moving faster than previously anticipated. The central bank recommended policies for reskilling, enhancing young workers' ability to work alongside AI, and building an appropriate social safety net to mitigate the risk of AI-related unemployment.
This is one of the first large-scale empirical studies by an Asian central bank on the employment impact of generative AI, adding to ongoing debates about how to manage and harness AI to boost productivity while protecting vulnerable workers.
