Law tops South Korea's list of most AI-exposed professions

A study by the Korea Employment Information Service reveals that lawyers rank highest for AI exposure in South Korea, with 19.1% of analyzed workers in highly exposed roles. While 53.1% of workers in their 30s face medium or high exposure, and youth employment in these fields has declined, the institute notes no clear evidence that generative AI is driving broader job losses, citing pre-existing demographic and economic trends.

AI exposure rankings by occupation

• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service study found that 2.92 million workers, or 19.1 percent of those analyzed under South Korea's employment insurance system, were in occupations with high AI exposure.
• ▪A study by the Korea Employment Information Service found that lawyers rank highest among all workers in South Korea for exposure to artificial intelligence.
• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service report found that 53.1 percent of South Korean workers in their 30s were employed in occupations classified as having medium or high AI exposure.
• ▪Following lawyers, the highest AI-exposed occupations in South Korea include legal assistants, patent attorneys, biological science technicians, and accountants, while journalists and media professionals ranked 12th.
• ▪Occupations with the lowest AI exposure in South Korea include metal-coating and spraying machine operators, plasterers, rice cake makers, and meat-processing and slaughterhouse workers.

Generative AI impact uncertainty

• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service defined high AI exposure as indicating how closely required job skills align with AI capabilities, rather than predicting job disappearance.
• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service cautioned that economic and demographic factors, including a shrinking youth population, contributed to declining employment alongside potential generative AI impacts.
• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service noted that employment in highly AI-exposed occupations in South Korea had already been declining before the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.
• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service report found no clear evidence that generative AI was driving the broader slowdown in employment in South Korea.

AI competency policy recommendations

• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service report called for the development of occupation-specific AI competency indicators to help job seekers assess their AI skills.
• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service recommended matching South Korean job seekers with employment opportunities suited to their assessed AI skills using new competency indicators.
• ▪The Korea Employment Information Service warned that a continued decline in entry-level jobs could adversely affect young people's ability to build skills and gain experience over the medium to long term.