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Study: Korean firms that adopted AI cut hiring of young workers by about 10%
In short
- Firms using AI vouchers hired 8% fewer people overall than firms that were turned down.
- Hiring of workers aged 19–34 fell 10.1% in the three years after adoption.
- Entry-level candidates should show judgement and results that AI tools cannot produce alone.
A study by Professor Lee Hwan-woong of Konkuk University, presented on 9 November at a Labor-Management-Public Interest Forum debate in South Korea and reported by Seoul Economic Daily on 11 November, looked at firms that applied to the government's AI Voucher program: 2,239 applications, with 636 firms selected and 1,603 rejected. Compared with the rejected firms, those that adopted AI cut total new hiring by 8%, and their hiring of workers aged 19 to 34 fell 10.1% over the three years after adoption. The study used firm data from 2015 to 2024.
Why it matters for job seekers: This is one of the clearer pieces of evidence that AI adoption shows up first in early-career hiring, not in mass layoffs. Lee said "the pace of automation may be excessively fast from a social standpoint". The data is from South Korea, so the exact numbers may differ elsewhere, but the pattern matches what many employers describe.
Who is affected: Graduates and young workers applying to firms that are automating routine tasks, especially in roles built around repetitive, rules-based work.
What to do now:
- Learn the AI tools used in your field and show, with a real example, how you used them to get a better result faster.
- On your resume, lead with problems you solved and judgement calls you made, not routine tasks a tool can now do.
- Target teams that are growing because of AI (data, AI operations, implementation and support of AI tools) as well as your core field.
- Internships, apprenticeships and project work still count: they are proof of skills an employer cannot get from software alone.
Source: Seoul Economic Daily