In the first World Cup group-stage match held on the 11th in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oh Hyeon-gyu drove home the go-ahead goal with his left foot in the 35th minute of the second half. It was the goal that secured the team's first group-stage win in 16 years. Just four years ago, he was a reserve player who had not even been given a jersey number. From that time, this sentence remains in his diary: "I just need to prepare for the next four years and come back proudly wearing a jersey number." In this tournament, he stood on the pitch wearing the No. 18 uniform and proved that resolve with the go-ahead goal.
Growth takes time. And the skills built up during that time only shine when the opportunity to stand on the stage is given once again. The problem is that for today's young people, that stage is becoming increasingly narrow.
According to the May employment trends released by the Korea Data Agency, the number of employed people aged 15 to 29 stood at 3.427 million, down 255,000 from a year earlier. It is the largest decline since January 2021, when the impact of COVID-19 was severe. The youth employment rate fell to 43.8%, declining for 25 consecutive months, and the rate of decline also marked the steepest level since January 2021.
At the center of this trend is artificial intelligence (AI). The number of employed people in professional, scientific and technical services declined for six consecutive months. This sector is concentrated with jobs highly exposed to AI, such as research and development (R&D), legal and accounting, and consulting. According to the Bank of Korea's analysis of employment changes in industries with high AI exposure over the three years since ChatGPT's launch, youth jobs decreased by 208,000.
Changes are already appearing in everyday workplaces. According to the Korea Employment Information Service, when kiosks are introduced at restaurants, sales and serving staff decrease by an average of 11.5%. Yet the decline among young people is 23.1%, more than twice as large. What AI and automation technologies replace first are the repetitive and basic tasks that new employees have handled. In other words, the positions where young people first set foot to build their skills are disappearing.
The problem is that this is not simply a matter of the number of jobs. When the process by which newcomers take on small roles, learn and grow disappears, the capabilities that could have been accumulated in that process disappear as well. It is not only about job skills. The way an organization works, the sense for solving problems, and the way to collaborate with colleagues are also things that take time to learn. When this ladder weakens, the experience and capabilities that one generation can pass on to the next also diminish. The youth employment problem is ultimately a question of how society will cultivate the competitiveness of the next generation.
The solution does not lie in blocking AI. It lies in deciding whether AI will be used only as a tool to reduce jobs, or whether it will also be used as a tool to develop people's capabilities.
The United Kingdom plans to invest 725 million pounds (about 1.477 trillion won) to provide free AI education to about 10 million people, including employees of small and medium-sized enterprises and young people. Singapore, through its national reskilling program "SkillsFuture," provides education credits to all citizens aged 25 and over, supporting the strengthening of AI capabilities.
Our government has also begun to move. At the third youth policy ministerial meeting held on the 9th, measures were announced to expand support for companies that actively hire young people and local talent, and to enable young people who have completed the K-Digital Training AI Campus course to support the AI transition of small and medium-sized enterprises. The establishment of a certification system through which companies can verify young people's AI utilization capabilities is also being pursued.
What matters now is execution rather than the direction of policy. The system must lead to actual opportunities in the field. Positions must be created where young people can use AI, accumulate experience, learn judgment and responsibility, and grow.
Oh Hyeon-gyu was able to score the winning goal because of the skill and effort he built up over four years. At the same time, it was also because a stage to prove that skill was given to him once again. Today's young people need such a stage too — time to build their skills, opportunities to learn through failure, and a place where they can prove the grown version of themselves. The most important task that employment policy in the AI era must solve ultimately lies right here.
