South Korean Jobseekers Voice AI Replacement Concerns in FKI Survey

The reported concern was more common among jobseekers than among respondents already in work: 63.8% of jobseekers expressed that view, compared with 49.4% of employed young people. Across the full sample, 53.9% said their current or desired job could be replaced or reduced by AI within five years.

The survey also separated respondents by occupational exposure. People in office, managerial and professional roles were more likely to expect replacement or reduction than respondents in lower-exposure occupations. That is a measure of respondents' expectations, not evidence that those changes have already occurred.

The results were not uniformly pessimistic. A majority said AI could improve professional expertise and career competitiveness, while many also worried that uneven AI skills could leave them behind. Respondents expressed particular concern that automation of junior tasks could reduce opportunities to gain the experience needed to become skilled workers.

For organizations, the finding is a signal to separate employee expectations from observed labor-market effects. Training, supervised use of AI tools, and deliberately designed entry-level work can address the career-development concern without treating a perception survey as a forecast.

The survey results were reported by Yonhap News Agency and The Korea Times. Both accounts identify the Federation of Korean Industries as the organization that released the study; the underlying first-party release could not be retrieved directly during this audit.