With the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), the employment of domestic information technology (IT) builders has turned downward. The quantity of pc programming staff has decreased by greater than 5,000 over the previous yr and 9 months, and the slowdown in employment appears to be spreading to white-collar occupations akin to skilled science and technology providers. The authorities has begun to seek out out the actuality of this.
According to the “Employment Insurance Statistics” printed by the Korea Employment Information Service on the twenty fifth, the quantity of staff in the pc programming and system built-in administration enterprise was 60,322 as of December final yr. Compared to 65,441 in March 2024, the quantity decreased by 5,119 in a yr and 9 months. In different phrases, about 7.8% of the staff decreased throughout the interval. Employment insurance coverage statistics depend these employed at workplaces with employment insurance coverage. As a consequence, the complete quantity of employed individuals is about 15.55 million. This is totally different from the complete 28 million employed in the Economically Active Population Survey. However, contemplating that the quantity of employed individuals with employment insurance coverage elevated by about 220,000 from March 2024 to December 2025, it may be interpreted that the improvement job group was shocked by the employment.
This pattern can be detected in the company discipline. The quantity of Kakao staff decreased from 4,028 at the finish of 2024 to three,986 at the finish of June 2025. In addition, NCsoft, which underwent a restructuring, noticed its R&D manpower lower by 573 from 2,808 at the finish of 2024 to 2,235 in June 2025.
A, who works at Pangyo Game Company, mentioned, “The atmosphere has changed since the second half of last year,” including, “It appears to chorus from hiring new staff as a lot as attainable and actively encourage present builders to make use of AI instruments. If AI develops additional, the restructuring subject, which was restricted to some firms, can spread to different firms like Big Tech in the U.S., he defined the scenario. The pattern of restructuring from Big Tech in the U.S. appears to be regularly spreading to domestic IT clusters like Pangyo.
Layoffs, which compiles the present standing of restructuring of tech firms.According to fyi), 27 tech firms worldwide lower a complete of 24,818 jobs in January this yr. The quantity of job cuts elevated practically 10 occasions from 2,537 a yr earlier. The spread of AI performed a component on this pattern. It is interpreted that the recruitment of junior builders has been drastically lowered as AI has changed a lot of the improvement duties akin to programming code writing.
What the authorities is trying into is the general lower in employment on account of the spread of AI. According to the National Data Agency’s Economically Active Population Survey, the quantity of skilled science and technology service staff was 1,389,000 in January this yr, down 97,000 from the identical month final yr. Since peaking at 1.516 million in April 2025, the quantity has continued to say no on a year-on-year foundation. In specific, the decline was massive for 2 months from December final yr to January this yr.
Specialized science and technology service industries embrace analysis and improvement, skilled service industries akin to legal professionals and accountants, and development technology, engineering, and different science and technology service industries. As Generative AI replaces the information analysis and report drafting duties which were primarily carried out by new staff, there appears to be a lower in demand for brand new staff in some skilled occupations. Private fairness funds (PEFs), that are operated by a small quantity of individuals, additionally are inclined to not rent new staff or cut back the measurement of recruitment after the introduction of AI, mentioned an official from an funding financial institution (IB) trade. “If people who know the existing investment grammar use AI, they can handle more tasks without new employees.”
The Ministry of Finance and Economy is intently monitoring the scenario. This is as a result of if the employment shock from AI turns into seen at a time when the general improve in the quantity of employed is restricted on account of the slowdown in the development financial system, the ripple impact on the labor market might improve. A high-ranking official of the Ministry of Finance and Economy mentioned, “We have launched a related investigation as there are rumors that layoffs could increase further, especially in Pangyo,” including, “We will look into whether the employment shock from AI becomes visible.”
[Reporter Na Hyunjun]