SEOUL, Sept. 15 (AJP) — Eight out of 10 new jobs created through the rise of artificial intelligence were in South Korea’s capital region, suggesting the AI-driven economy could worsen regional concentration, a Bank of Korea study found Tuesday.
Occupations exposed to generative AI added 247,000 jobs between 2023 and 2025, with the Seoul metropolitan area accounting for 80.8 percent of the increase, according to the latest BOK issue note.
The concentration was even greater in occupations highly exposed to agentic AI, which can plan and carry out workflows with limited human intervention.
Of the 105,000 jobs added in those occupations in 2025, 88.3 percent were in the capital region.
The capital region, comprising Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, accounts for more than half of South Korea’s employment.
The study divided AI into generative, agentic and physical types and measured occupational and regional exposure to each. AI exposure refers to the extent to which tasks within an occupation can use or be automated by the technology.
Exposure to generative AI was highest in Seoul, followed by Sejong, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon.
Agentic AI exposure was also concentrated in Seoul, Sejong and Gyeonggi Province, while physical AI showed the opposite pattern.
Exposure to physical AI was highest in North Gyeongsang, South Jeolla, North Chungcheong and Ulsan, reflecting the larger share of manufacturing and manual occupations outside the capital region.
The divide largely reflected differences in local employment and industrial structures.
Office, sales, managerial and professional occupations with greater exposure to generative and agentic AI account for larger shares of employment in the capital region. Machine-operation, elementary and service occupations more exposed to physical AI are relatively more common outside it.
The employment gains did not extend to younger workers.
Among people in their 20s, employment in occupations highly exposed to generative and agentic AI declined in both the capital and non-capital regions.
The researchers said university education remained focused on traditional knowledge accumulation, making it difficult for recent graduates to build the expertise and experience increasingly demanded by employers.
Existing industrial concentration could widen the regional gap further.
The capital region already accounts for 71.9 percent of employment in knowledge-intensive services and 74.4 percent in semiconductor manufacturing, according to the study.
The researchers also identified potential opportunities for areas outside the capital region.
AI could lift productivity more sharply in regions where human capital is scarce, while physical AI could help manufacturing regions expand into product development, process improvement and other knowledge-intensive services.
The paper called for stronger regional AI training systems, greater specialization in knowledge services linked to local manufacturing and concentrated investment to turn regional universities into AI hubs.
AJP Takeaways
- Bank of Korea researchers found that South Korea’s capital region accounted for 80.8 percent of job gains in occupations highly exposed to generative AI between 2023 and 2025.
- Bank of Korea research showed that South Korea’s capital region is more exposed to generative and agentic AI, while non-capital regions face greater exposure to physical AI linked to manufacturing and manual work.
- Bank of Korea researchers warned that AI could deepen South Korea’s regional labor-market divide unless non-capital regions strengthen AI training, knowledge services and university-based innovation hubs.
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