00:02You're listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
00:06If you're early in your career in Korea, today's story is about which skills actually
00:11keep you employable.
00:14Korea's working age population shrank by 393,000 people last year, equivalent to erasing an
00:21entire district the size of Han Daegu.
00:23Long-term unemployed young Koreans jumped 13.5% in two years, now 62.4% of all resting
00:33youth.
00:34At the same time, major banks and corporations are rushing to fold generative AI into everyday
00:41jobs.
00:42Shinhan Financial just opened 40 seats in a fully funded AI and finance training program.
00:50It's Wednesday, July 29.
00:52Let's talk about a trend affecting young professionals in Korea.
00:57Korea's population is aging faster than any OECD country, moving from a 14% to 20% senior
01:04share in just seven years, versus 12 years in Japan and 36 in Germany.
01:11That shift is shrinking the working age population, just as the government pushes to re-skill young
01:17workers into higher-value roles.
01:20Companies including KB Financial, KT, Amore Pacific, and Shinhan are betting that AI adoption,
01:27not headcount growth, will fill the productivity gap.
01:30Here's what the numbers show.
01:33Korea's working age population fell by 393,000 last year, while the 65 and over population
01:40grew by 243,600 over five years, a widening structural gap.
01:47Long-term unemployed young Koreans reached 427,143 this year, up 13.5% from 2024, now making up
02:0062.4% of all resting youth.
02:03The government's third-quarter jobs plan targets over 200,000 new youth positions by 2030, with
02:11100,000 aimed at semiconductor and AI-linked private roles.
02:16KB Financial partnered with Google Cloud to launch an internal AI assistant called KB Davis,
02:23and a customer-facing agent, KB Star Bulee, both built on Gemini.
02:28KT and Amore Pacific cut a 12-day R&D and regulatory review process down to about five minutes, using
02:37a jointly built AI data platform.
02:40Shinhan Financial opened 40 slots in its Shinhan Career Next program, offering free tuition and
02:48a monthly stipend of 600,000 won, about $410, for three months of AI and finance training.
02:56So, what does this mean for young professionals navigating this market?
03:00Earlier, we said long-term youth unemployment just hit 62.4% of all resting young Koreans.
03:08Here's what that actually means for you.
03:10The longer a job gap lasts, the harder it becomes to re-enter, so speed matters more than
03:16waiting for the perfect opening.
03:18Meanwhile, employers like KB, KT, and Shinhan are visibly rewarding AI fluency over headcount,
03:26meaning early career workers who can use these tools stand out in salary reviews and promotion
03:32cycles.
03:33Watch whether the government's jobs plan actually converts into hiring, because AI-linked roles
03:39are where public support and private investment are now converging.
03:44That's today's AI Prism, Early Careers.
03:48This episode was produced with AI assistants based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and
03:53reviewed by a human editor.
03:56AI Prism is a Juan Ifra award-winning series.
03:59We'll be back tomorrow.
04:00You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
