00:02You're listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
00:06Kakao's labor union has reached a tentative wage deal after two strikes this month,
00:11but the numbers stay sealed until a member vote.
00:15BMW is cutting 8,000 jobs in Germany, about 5% of its global workforce,
00:20as EV competition and Chinese sales bite.
00:24LG just opened AI training to 33,000 teenagers a year, for free,
00:30betting on the workforce it will need next.
00:33Offline retail's biggest chains are shrinking.
00:36Discount stores are down to just 8.5% of retail sales, while online tops 60%.
00:43Gyeongnam Province is putting 21 trillion won, about $14.4 billion,
00:50into AI manufacturing jobs through 2035.
00:54It's Thursday, July 30th.
00:56Let's talk about a trend affecting young professionals in Korea.
01:01Korean companies from tech to autos are recalibrating headcount and pay all at once this week.
01:08Kakao's unionized workers pushed for a bigger share of last year's profit,
01:12while BMW is shedding staff to survive a China slump.
01:16Both moves land at the same time Korean firms are racing to build AI skills into their next generation of
01:23hires.
01:24Here's what the numbers show.
01:26Kakao's union had demanded 10 million won, about $6,900, per employee,
01:3313.6% of last year's 732 billion won, or roughly $503 million, in operating profit, before striking twice this
01:45month.
01:47BMW's cuts hit R&D and planning staff in Germany starting in October, running through 2027,
01:53while factory floor workers are exempt.
01:57LG's AI Discovery Lab now trains over 33,000 students a year across Seoul and Pusan, free of charge,
02:06feeding into paid internship and hackathon tracks for young professionals.
02:11Offline discount store sales fell 10.5% year-on-year in June,
02:16while online retail grew 11.7%, and now holds 60.4% of total sales.
02:24Gyeongnam's 21 trillion won plan targets 2035,
02:29aiming to train over 3,000 AI workers a year, on top of building six new data centers.
02:36So what does this mean for early career professionals in Korea?
02:40Earlier, we said Kakao's deal stayed sealed until a vote.
02:44Here's what that means for you.
02:46Comparable tech and platform employers are watching this outcome as a bar-setter for this year's raises.
02:53BMW's cuts are a reminder that even blue-chip global employers are trimming white-collar and R&D headcount first,
03:01not factory jobs.
03:03If retail keeps sliding online, expect hiring to keep shifting toward logistics,
03:08data, and platform roles over traditional store staff.
03:13Three things to watch.
03:14The outcome of Kakao's union ratification vote in the coming weeks.
03:19BMW's German employee meeting on July 30th, where cuts get formally announced.
03:24And whether Gyeongnam's AI manufacturing plan starts hiring for its first data center and training programs later this year.
03:33That's today's AI Prism, Early Careers.
03:37This episode was produced with AI assistants based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting,
03:42and reviewed by a human editor.
03:45AI Prism is a Juan Ifra award-winning series.
03:48We'll be back tomorrow.
03:50You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
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