Bank of Korea Warns: AI Diffusion Could Exacerbate Labor Market Gap Between Capital and Non-Capital Regions

TechFlow reports that according to Yonhap News Agency on September 15, a report released by the Bank of Korea at the "Regional Economic Seminar" held in Daejeon on the same day indicated that the diffusion of AI technology may further widen regional labor market gaps in South Korea. The report classifies AI into generative, agentic, and physical categories. Analysis indicates that newly created positions in occupations highly exposed to generative and agentic AI are heavily concentrated in the capital area. Over the three-year period since 2023, generative AI-exposed occupations added 247,000 jobs, with the capital area accounting for 80.8%. Agentic AI-exposed occupations created 105,000 new positions last year, with the capital area representing as high as 88.3%.

The Bank of Korea warned that if AI investment continues to concentrate in the capital area, regional imbalances in the knowledge services and semiconductor manufacturing sectors will exacerbate, potentially leading to substantial job losses in manufacturing, transportation, and catering industries outside the capital area. Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyeon-sung emphasized that whether AI can become a new driver of regional economic growth depends not on the speed of technology adoption, but on how the regional economy is restructured to maximize AI productivity.