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

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Bank of Korea released an analysis report on the 15th at a "Regional Economic Symposium" in Daejeon, warning that the spread of AI technology could further widen regional labor market disparities in South Korea. Categorizing AI into generative, agent, and physical types, the report found that new jobs for occupations highly exposed to generative and agent AI are heavily concentrated in the Seoul Capital Area. Over the three years since 2023, generative AI-exposed occupations added 247,000 jobs, with the capital area accounting for 80.8%; last year, agent AI-exposed occupations created 105,000 new positions, with the capital area representing 88.3%. The central bank warned that if AI investments continue to concentrate in the capital region, regional imbalances in knowledge-intensive services and semiconductor manufacturing will deepen, while employment in manufacturing, transportation, and food service sectors outside the capital could decline significantly. Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hoon emphasized that whether AI can serve as a new engine for regional economic growth hinges not on the pace of technology adoption, but on how to restructure regional economies to maximize AI-driven productivity.