The spread of artificial intelligence could widen the employment gap between South Korea's capital region and the rest of the country, according to a new analysis.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) released an issue note titled "AI and Regional Labor Markets" at the 2026 BOK Regional Economy Symposium, held on the 15th at the Lotte City Hotel in Daejeon. The report measured how exposed different regions and occupations are to each type of AI, including generative AI, agentic AI and physical AI.
Exposure to generative AI was highest in Seoul, Sejong and Gyeonggi Province, the BOK said, while exposure to agentic AI was high in Seoul, Sejong, Gyeonggi and Daejeon. Exposure to physical AI, by contrast, was highest in regions with large manufacturing bases, including North Gyeongsang, South Jeolla and North Chungcheong provinces and Ulsan.
Job growth diverged along the same lines. Over the three years since 2023, employment in occupations highly exposed to generative AI rose by 247,000, of which 199,000, or 80.8%, came in the capital region. Of the 105,000 increase in jobs highly exposed to agentic AI in 2025, 93,000, or 88.3%, were concentrated in the capital region.
Employment in occupations highly exposed to physical AI has been declining for an extended period in both the capital region and elsewhere. The BOK said job losses could deepen in manufacturing, transportation, and lodging and food services outside the capital region as physical AI spreads.
Among people in their 20s, employment in occupations highly exposed to generative and agentic AI fell in both the capital region and the rest of the country. The report attributed this to companies favoring workers with specialized expertise, experience and interpersonal skills, which puts young people entering the labor market at a relative disadvantage.
Speaking at the symposium, BOK Governor Shin Hyun-song said raising AI's productivity gains requires "complementary innovation" that goes beyond adopting the technology to changing production methods, organizations, institutions and workforce capabilities. "Whether AI becomes a new growth engine for regional economies depends less on how quickly the technology is adopted than on how regional economies are redesigned to maximize productivity using AI," the governor said.
