The technology has largely automated routine tasks, leaving businesses in search of skilled professionals, the Bank of Korea said.
AI was widely expected to wipe out jobs. Instead, employment has grown in the occupations most exposed to the technology, good news for all but those in their 20s.
Employment in occupations highly exposed to generative AI increased by 247,000 in the three years since the technology began spreading rapidly in 2023, according to a Bank of Korea (BOK) report announced at a local economy symposium on Tuesday. Office workers, salespeople and professionals showed particularly high exposure to generative AI because their jobs involve substantial amounts of document preparation and information processing.
In 2025 alone, the number of newly recruited workers in positions highly exposed to agentic AI, which moves beyond generative AI’s typical role of answering questions and can independently find solutions, increased by 105,000. Exposure to agentic AI was highest among managers, followed by office and sales workers.
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The technology has largely automated individual tasks rather than eliminated entire occupations. At the same time, businesses have used AI to sharpen their information-processing capabilities and reach new markets, which has increased job availability.
However, people in their 20s were left out of the job growth. Employment in occupations highly exposed to generative and agentic AI declined for that age group across both the greater Seoul area and the rest of the country.
The shift toward AI has raised demand for seasoned workers with expertise, experience and interpersonal office skills, qualities that recent college graduates have had little time to develop.
AI adoption left overall employment largely intact while hurting employment among people aged 29 and younger, according to an analysis presented at the symposium by Kyung Hee University economics Prof. Aum Sang-min.
The job gains were also geographically lopsided. The greater Seoul area captured 80.8 percent of the increase in employment in generative AI-exposed occupations, totaling 199,000 workers, while also accounting for an even larger share of growth in agentic AI-exposed jobs, at 88.3 percent, or 93,000 workers.
Much of the disparity predates the AI boom. The greater Seoul area is already home to 71.9 percent of workers in knowledge-intensive business services and 74.4 percent of those in semiconductor manufacturing. AI could reinforce that divide as investment flows toward regions with established pools of skilled labor.
Physical AI could add another layer to the regional imbalance. The impact on employment is likely to be greater outside the capital region, given its heavier dependence on manufacturing, transportation, accommodation and the food service industry.
BOK Gov. Shin Hyun-song drew a parallel between AI and the arrival of electricity in factories in the late 19th century. The electrical generator dynamo allowed manufacturers to replace steam power with electricity, but productivity didn’t take off until factories themselves were reorganized around the technology.
“For AI adoption to lead to higher productivity, complementary innovation is needed across technological infrastructure, organizations and institutions,” Shin said in his opening remarks at the symposium.
BY KIM WON [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]