More than half of workers in their 30s hold AI-exposed jobs, but widespread job losses remain unclear
Lawyers rank highest among all workers in South Korea for exposure to artificial intelligence, reflecting the technology’s growing reach into text-heavy and analytical work, according to a government labor research institute.
The study found that 2.92 million workers covered by the country’s employment insurance system, or 19.1 percent of those analyzed, were employed in occupations classified as having high AI exposure.
The Korea Employment Information Service based its rankings on an analysis of the abilities required in 415 occupations, using its 2025 survey of incumbent workers and employment-related administrative data.
Legal assistants, patent attorneys, biological science technicians and accountants followed lawyers in the rankings. Journalists and other media professionals ranked 12th.
The institute said occupations centered on text interpretation and quantitative data analysis tended to rank near the top.
A high exposure score, however, does not necessarily mean that a job is more likely to disappear. Rather, it indicates how closely the skills required for an occupation align with capabilities that can be performed or supported by AI.
Occupations with the lowest exposure included metal-coating and spraying machine operators, plasterers, rice cake makers and meat-processing and slaughterhouse workers. Such jobs typically require physical work in production, construction or other on-site settings.
Workers in their 30s were particularly concentrated in AI-exposed occupations, with 53.1 percent employed in jobs classified as having medium or high exposure.
Despite the high level of exposure, the report found no clear evidence that generative AI was driving the broader slowdown in employment.
Among workers under 30, employment declined more sharply in highly exposed occupations. With 2022 employment set at 100, the index fell to 86.6 for highly exposed occupations in 2025, compared with 92.5 for low-exposure occupations.
The institute cautioned against attributing the difference solely to generative AI because employment in highly exposed occupations had already been declining before ChatGPT was released in late 2022. Economic and demographic factors, including a shrinking youth population and declining labor force participation, may also have contributed.
“Young people entering the labor market may be more sensitive to the spread of generative AI, and a continued decline in entry-level jobs could adversely affect their ability to gain experience and build skills over the medium to long term,” the report said.
The report called for occupation-specific AI competency indicators that would allow job seekers to assess their AI skills and be matched with jobs suited to those skills.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com