AI PRISM
Workplace trends, labor market, and career development news for early-career professionals. Covers workplace culture, labor policy, and professional growth.
SK Broadband will train all employees in AI from March to October, aiming to more than double AI performers to 400, as corporate AI capabilities become core to evaluations and promotions.
Meta plans to lay off 8,000 employees next month amid AI investment restructuring, while Korea's Q1 unemployed population exceeded 1 million, with youth unemployment hitting a multi-year high.
Samsung Electronics' Cross-Company Union has declared a May 21 general strike, demanding 15% of operating profit as bonuses — totaling 45 trillion won, or 580 million won per member.
Labor Day became a national holiday in Korea, but a 22-year-old administrative interpretation denies substitute holidays to essential workers, while Samsung faces a potential 30 trillion won strike loss.
Upstage becomes Korea's first generative AI unicorn with 180 billion won funding and 1 trillion won valuation, while youth employment falls for 41 straight months and ETF assets hit record 400 trillion won.
Young Koreans using credit card revolving carry an average monthly balance of 3.26 million won, with 1 in 5 exceeding 5 million won. 82% of young delinquent borrowers are in long-term arrears as youth financial instability deepens.
Korea's 'ghost GDP' phenomenon intensifies as AI drives growth without creating jobs. Record 2.56 million 'resting' population prompts government to pursue participation income for youth solving social challenges.
Samsung Research unveils robot AI 'Shallo-π' with 17.2Hz decision speed and 95% precision success rate, while announcing record 100 trillion won R&D investment for 2030 autonomous factory transition.
GS Chairman Huh Tae-soo urges Korea to transition from AI development to AI utilization, while 53% of Gen Z job seekers say cover letters lost distinctiveness due to AI. Arm expands Korean partnerships.
Korean household surplus funds reached a record 269.7 trillion won in 2024, with investors selling 15 trillion won in stocks while pouring 75.5 trillion won into ETFs and investment funds.
KT reshuffles 30% of workforce into new AX division amid AI transformation push, while ServiceNow introduces token-based AI pricing and Korea issues first guidelines against lump-sum wage abuse.
Samsung SDS wins contract to build 175+ AI agents for Woori Bank across 29 core banking tasks. POSCO to directly hire 7,000 subcontract workers. Chinese universities add 406 AI majors while cutting 1,773 programs.
Korea's Ministry of Planning and Budget will select 60 young participants including aides and interns for fiscal policy roles, while Naver reviews AI agent development and Woori Bank consolidates 37 branches.
Samsung SDS launches S-VIP consulting program for manufacturing AI transformation, securing its first contract. Korean bonds gain global appeal at 50% debt-to-GDP, while Tianjin Port hits 88% automation.
Overseas job fraud reports in South Korea surged 48-fold in two years, prompting a joint public-private monitoring system. The government budgeted 900 million won for an AI detection system amid rising fraudulent job postings.
Korea's Ministry of Planning and Budget introduces special performance bonuses of up to 10 million won for civil servants, while Samsung SDS launches AI transformation consulting and MOEL eases youth technical certification barriers.
LG Electronics joins Samsung, Hyundai Motor, and POSCO in adopting post-retirement rehiring. Shinhan Financial targets 1,000 AI specialists, while ultra-low-price products emerge amid inflation.
LG Electronics introduces a post-retirement rehiring system and 4% wage hike, Shinhan Card declares emergency management after a 16.7% profit drop, and HS Hyosung appoints its first non-owner chairman.
Korea's ETF sign-up process takes about 1 hour in person versus 10 minutes online, exposing regulatory asymmetry. AI models show 2x score gaps on academic tests, and TDF eligibility standards tighten as assets hit 25.6 trillion won.
Korea's Industry Minister proposed a labor-management truce in a historic first meeting with FKTU in 20 years, while startup employment declined for the first time in 12 years and brokerage fee gaps widened to 143-fold.
Korea's Startup One-Stop Support Center handled 7,500 consultations in four months with a 9.7/10 satisfaction score, while ETF holdings tripled and AI displaces 147,000 youth jobs in professional sectors.
High-risk indebted households in South Korea reached 459,000 in 2024, up 18.9% year-on-year, with the share of those in their 20s-30s surging from 22.6% to 34.9% over five years.
Shinhan Bank limits reports to two pages and replaces routine updates with verbal or email communication, aiming to boost speed and execution across the organization.
Korean wage earners' mortgage loans surged 11.1% in 2024 — the largest increase on record — with borrowers in their 30s and 40s driving growth of 17.8% and 12.7% respectively. Voice phishing losses hit a five-year high.
Nearly 90% of first-instance civil lawsuits in Korea are now filed without lawyers, with ChatGPT increasingly used to draft legal complaints. Construction talent migrates to semiconductor firms while Naver and LG accelerate AI agent adoption.