▲ AI PRISM* Personalized Economic Briefing
* Editor's note: "AI PRISM" (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.
[Key Issues Briefing]
■ AI Skills Emerge as Benchmark in Gaming and Finance: Company-wide AI adoption in the game industry stands at 49.6%, far above the 33.8% seen in the broader content industry, while KB Insurance has introduced a program in which non-developer employees design AI agents themselves. Across job categories, the ability to use AI is clearly taking hold as a core criterion for hiring competitiveness.
■ Hiring Expands in Securities and Shipbuilding: Kyobo Securities is running an open recruitment for entry-level positions in sales and support roles in the double digits, and Samsung Heavy Industries has confirmed it will expand production-line hiring to about 50 people a year starting next year. With hiring plans taking concrete shape in both finance and shipbuilding, job preparation in these fields has become considerably more realistic.
■ Fixed-Term Employment at Large Firms Expands for Fifth Straight Year: Fixed-term workers at companies with 300 or more employees rose by 67,000 this year, lifting their share to 28.3%, and fixed-term workers have surged by 478,000 over the five years since 2021. With a structure in which fixed-term employment grows faster than permanent employment now entrenched, debate over revising the fixed-term employment law is expected to reignite.
[News of Interest to University Students and Job Seekers]
1. Game Industry Accelerates AI Adoption, With Quality Decline Still Unresolved
Key summary: Company-wide AI adoption in the game industry stands at 49.6%, far above the 33.8% in the broader content industry, marking the fastest pace of AI integration among content sectors. Krafton signed a memorandum of understanding with Hanwha Aerospace on establishing a joint venture in physical AI, while NC AI, NC's AI specialist unit, is applying physics and simulation technology accumulated in game development to building AI foundation models, pointing to accelerating expansion into other industries. The share of respondents reporting higher revenue after adopting AI was greater in gaming, at 7.6%, than in the general content industry, at 2.6%. Still, as barriers to production fall, the spread of low-quality content and copyright questions surrounding AI training data remain unresolved, prompting calls for policy discussion at the government level.
2. Fixed-Term Hiring at Large Firms Rises 70,000 Against 40,000 Permanent Jobs, Share Nears 30%
Key summary: According to the 2026 employment type disclosure results released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 29th, fixed-term workers at 4,205 large companies with 300 or more employees totaled 1.412 million, a jump of 67,000 from a year earlier. That is about 1.6 times the pace of the increase in permanent employees, which came to 41,000, and the share of fixed-term workers among affiliated employees rose 0.7 percentage points to 28.3%. Over the five years from 2021 through this year, fixed-term workers soared by 478,000, from 934,000 to 1.412 million, with their share climbing from 22.8% to 28.3%. The ministry said it plans to draw up measures to improve the system based on a survey of fixed-term employment conditions.
3. Samsung Heavy Industries to Hire 50 Production Workers a Year, With 20 Slots for Geoje Talent
Key summary: Samsung Heavy Industries will hire about 50 production workers a year starting next year and allot 20 of those positions to local talent in Geoje. The company and the Geoje city government held a meeting at Geoje City Hall on the 29th to discuss expanding local hiring and cooperation measures. The company said it currently hires about 400 domestic workers each year and that some 2,000 employees are due to retire within the next decade, meaning new hiring on a comparable scale will follow. It was also confirmed that day that staffing at the Busan research and development center will not exceed 10% of the design workforce in Geoje.
[Reference News for University Students and Job Seekers]
4. Kyobo Securities Opens Double-Digit Entry-Level Recruitment for Second Half
Key summary: Kyobo Securities said on the 29th that it is opening recruitment for entry-level employees for the second half of 2026. The company is hiring in three areas — head-office sales, head-office support and branch sales — for a total in the double digits, and graduates of four-year universities as well as those set to graduate in February 2027 may apply regardless of major. The branch sales track is run as a hire-track internship, in which candidates go through about three weeks of practical training and on-site experience before a final interview determines whether they are hired as permanent employees. Preference is given to recipients of employment support, people with disabilities, holders of securities and finance certifications, and graduates of regional universities. Applications close on October 5.
5. KB Insurance Has Employees Build AI Agents Themselves in Frontline-Led AI Push
Key summary: KB Insurance said on the 29th that it held "Undercover Agenters," a two-day event on the 10th and 11th in which employees designed and built AI agents for their own work. Participants used Microsoft's M365 Copilot to identify problems in their work and build agents, with 10 teams taking part. The grand prize went to the G-Agent team's "subscription manager productivity analysis agent," which implemented productivity analysis and sales support functions. As the practice of having employees who are not professional developers design AI tools themselves spreads across the financial sector, the ability to use AI is taking hold as a core work skill beyond the boundaries of major or job category.
6. Family Travel Also Requires Approval: China Moves to Lock Down AI Talent
Key summary: Bloomberg reported on the 28th local time that Chinese authorities are extending overseas travel restrictions on key AI and semiconductor personnel to spouses, children and other family members. Those covered include founders of well-known startups and executives at companies deemed strategic to AI, and new immigration rules restricting departures by personnel who pose concerns about technology export violations took effect on the 15th of this month. The measures are seen as a tightening of controls following the collapse of Meta's attempted acquisition of Chinese AI startup Manus, which was scrapped after the Chinese government ordered its withdrawal. Observers say the more China tightens control over AI talent, the faster the global AI talent market will be reshaped.
▶Read the article: Lee Hyung-il Says Emergency Buyback Possible if Treasury Bond Yields Rise Excessively; Bond Prices Close Higher
▶Read the article: Public Institutions Tougher Than Private Lenders: Higher Rejection Rate on Debt Restructuring
