AI job postings in Korea jump 128% with growing demand for nontech roles: JobKorea
gettyimagesbank
Job postings for artificial intelligence (AI) roles in Korea jumped 128 percent in the first half of this year compared to 2025, with a growing share of the demand coming from nontechnical fields such as planning and content creation rather than AI development, according to data released by JobKorea, a Korean recruitment platform operated by Worxphere Corp.
JobKorea said it analyzed AI-related job postings uploaded through June, out of roughly 18,000 listings containing AI-related keywords.
Among postings specifically categorized by companies as AI-focused roles, listings for experienced hires rose 140 percent, outpacing the 55 percent increase for entry-level postings, suggesting demand is concentrated on candidates who can be deployed immediately. By company type, postings from large conglomerates, including affiliates and subsidiaries, rose 187 percent, ahead of increases at mid-sized companies (167 percent), small and medium-sized enterprises (124 percent) and venture firms (117 percent).
Driving that growth were nondevelopment AI roles — jobs that apply AI to business or creative work rather than building the technology itself. Postings for such roles rose 325 percent year-on-year and now account for 21.6 percent of all AI job postings, up from 11.6 percent in the first half of last year, meaning more than one in five AI postings are now nontechnical.
Within that category, postings for AI content creators rose the most, up 405 percent, followed by AI planners (363 percent), AI business strategists (313 percent) and AI education consultants (195 percent).
Major Korean companies have also begun testing AI literacy directly in hiring. SK hynix and LG Electronics recently added new assessment items on AI skills to their recruitment processes, while automaker Kia introduced an "AI problem-solving" evaluation stage across all job categories, a first for the auto industry.
By contrast, postings for non-AI development roles fell 6.6 percent in the first half from a year earlier. Within that category, web publisher postings dropped 40.1 percent, followed by app developers (32.2 percent) and game developers (26.4 percent).
A JobKorea representative said AI literacy is becoming a baseline skill across planning, business and content roles rather than a specialty limited to developers, adding that the company plans to expand matching services that account for both job experience and AI proficiency.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.