Jung Young-hyun, Tech Growth Editor
After campus isolation, they now face hiring barriers
AI shock concentrates on early-career hires
Hiring is a safeguard against economic and social collapse
Without people, neither technology nor companies have a reason to exist
After campus isolation, they now face hiring barriers
AI shock concentrates on early-career hires
Hiring is a safeguard against economic and social collapse
Without people, neither technology nor companies have a reason to exist
In the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 struck, campus gates were shut tight. After several delays to the start of the semester, universities ultimately decided not to open. Freshmen first met classmates through the screens of remote lectures. There were no entrance ceremonies, no orientations, and no first encounters with upperclassmen. Campuses did not fully reopen until the second semester of 2022. That left nearly two and a half years of lost experience during a critical phase when young people are taking their first steps into adulthood.
Today, this COVID generation faces another closed door: the job market. According to the national data agency, youth unemployment for ages 15–29 rose to 7.4% in the first quarter — the highest in five years. The number of unemployed young people reached 272,000, accounting for 26.4% of all unemployed. As of March, the youth employment rate stood at just 43.6%, and the number of employed young people has declined for 41 consecutive months.
Weak youth employment reflects a combination of slowing growth, a preference for experienced hires, expanded on-demand recruitment, and sectoral disparities. More recently, a new factor has had an outsized effect: the spread of artificial intelligence. AI boosts firms’ productivity, but it operates differently for young jobseekers. By automating routine, textbook tasks often assigned to entry-level workers — or enabling one person to handle work that used to require two or three — AI reduces companies’ incentive to hire and train new graduates. The Bank of Korea reports that 98.6% of the 211,000 youth jobs lost between July 2022 and July 2025 occurred in industries with high AI exposure. As firms reap productivity gains from AI, the shock is concentrating first on the job-entry segment for young people.
The COVID generation’s difficulties in finding work differ from previous waves of youth unemployment. As the label implies, these young people passed through crucial periods of learning and relationship-building under abnormal pandemic conditions. School is more than a place to transmit knowledge; it’s where young people learn rules outside the family, negotiate conflicts, and practice social distance and norms. The workplace is the next stage of socialization: reporting, persuading, facing the consequences of mistakes, and internalizing responsibility. For a generation already deprived of campus life, being shut out of hiring means being pushed outside the socialization process twice.
I am not suggesting companies should hire the COVID generation solely as an act of charity. But when an entire cohort’s entry into society is delayed, consumption contracts, the domestic market weakens, and the labor base thins. Delays in youth employment cause permanent lifetime income losses and can accelerate low birthrates and population aging, increasing downside risks across the macroeconomy. From a corporate perspective, hiring is a minimal defensive measure to prevent the industrial ecosystem from decaying.
AI-driven efficiency only realizes its value when people consume it, use it within organizations, and give it meaning socially. Companies that fail to cultivate people risk facing a market without customers or employees. No matter how much AI raises productivity or how outstanding the goods and services produced, firms cannot sustain activity if the people who buy, use, and evaluate them disappear.
It is also misguided to dismiss the COVID generation as irrelevant in the AI era because they lack the tacit knowledge of experienced hires. During the pandemic, they learned remote collaboration, managed uncertain schedules, practiced self-directed learning, and adapted to digital tools earlier than most. They bring essential assets: an instinct for working alongside AI, the speed to absorb new tools without hesitation, and the ability to find solutions when structures shake. Companies pursuing AI transformation (AX) cannot afford to ignore this. AX succeeds only if people know how to work with AI.
The COVID generation is knocking on the job market’s door now. Will companies bolt that door and move forward with AI alone, or will they open it and bring this generation into the next market? The choice rests with businesses. Without people, neither technology nor companies have a reason to exist.
- Too late? Change this after 60 to help prevent dementia [Workplace Wake-up]
- “Neukgu, are you free?”…As escaped animals become memes, are our safety nets holding up?
- “Should I have chemo or not?” A new clue emerges for young breast cancer patients [Healthy Time]
- “They say going to medical school makes you a fool these days”…Majors that upended admissions as 'employment express lanes'
- To avoid being a 'transient guest' in the U.S.... Use Korean law firms as wholesale partners [Lead Strategy]
- U.S. negotiating team cancels Pakistan trip...Trump: “Call me if you want to talk” [U.S.-Iran War]
- Samsung Electronics strike ends with tens of trillions in losses?…A chilling warning of “irreparable damage”
- '숙련'까지 뺏긴다…AI 시대, 우려됐던 암묵지 논쟁 시작됐다 [양종곤의 노동 톺아보기]>“Even 'skill' is being taken”…In the AI era, the feared tacit knowledge debate has begun [Yang Jong-gon's Labor Review]
- '4대그룹 유일 공채' 삼성, 올해도 일자리 창출 나섰다…18개 관계사 GSAT 진행>Samsung, the only one of the four major groups with open recruitment, is again creating jobs this year…18 affiliates run GSAT
- Korea’s real economy reflected the Middle East war...U.S., Japan, and the Eurozone face a 'rate week' [Han Dong-hoon's Weekly Outlook]
