Korea lags in AI workforce readiness despite quality STEM education

Banners for the QS Higher Ed Summit: Asia Pacific 2025 are displayed at Korea University in northeastern Seoul, Nov. 6, 2025. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

LONDON — Korea has high quality education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and corporate research and development capabilities, but the higher education system is less aligned with workforce needs in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) than many of its global competitors, a new index by QS showed Wednesday.

The report underscored a growing mismatch between the country's educational strengths and future labor market needs.

In the inaugural QS World Future Skills Index 2027, Korea recorded an overall score of 93.4, ranking sixth globally behind the U.S., Australia, the U.K., Germany and Canada.

The new index evaluates how well 89 economies are positioned to develop and deploy talent in the era of AI, digital transformation and the green transition, measuring performance across four areas: skills alignment, academic readiness, future of work and economic transformation.

Korea showed competitiveness in skills alignment and economic transformation, placing fifth and fourth, respectively.

Speaking to The Korea Times, Matteo Quacquarelli, QS vice president for strategy and analytics, said the new index was designed to assess whether higher education systems and labor markets are adapting quickly enough to the rapid changes brought about by AI and other emerging technologies.

“We wanted to build a framework that enables economies around the world to benchmark their readiness for the future of work by looking at both the supply and demand of skills,” he said.

Yet its future of work score lagged behind many leading economies, placing 15th globally and highlighting weaknesses in AI workforce readiness despite the country's strong higher education and innovation ecosystem.

QS described Korea as a “future skills paradox,” with its educational and innovation strengths outpacing its readiness for AI-led labor market transformation.

Despite a robust innovation ecosystem centered on semiconductors, AI, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing, Korea ranked 36th globally for AI skills penetration. The report pointed to limited diffusion of AI-related skills across the broader labor market, demographic decline and insufficient workforce transition programs as factors behind its weaker performance in the future of work category.

"The structural reading is that Korea's deep human capital, STEM-rich pipeline and corporate R&D intensity are colliding with three binding constraints: demographic collapse hollowing out the regional university sector and the labour supply; a rigid dual labor market that traps graduates between prestigious chaebol [conglomerate] jobs and precarious non-regular work, manifesting in rising graduate underemployment pressures; and cultural intensity around credentialism that the Glocal/RISE reforms and the digital-talent agenda are explicitly trying to disrupt by redistributing prestige and funding away from Seoul," the report read.

"Economic conditions appear supportive, but skills and academic foundations need strengthening to convert that economic capacity into future-ready workforce outcomes."

According to QS, the findings illustrate a challenge facing many advanced economies: Strong universities and innovation ecosystems alone do not guarantee that skills supply will keep pace with labor market demand.

Quacquarelli described Korea as one of the index's most notable success stories in education, research and innovation, while noting that expanding AI-related skills across the broader workforce remains critical to ensuring talent supply keeps up with demand from rapidly growing industries.

Among five regional peers in East Asia and Pacific, Australia ranked second, China seventh, Singapore 12th, Japan 15th and Taiwan 16th, compared to Korea's sixth.