Korea faces growing brain drain in AI field

South Korea is experiencing a serious outflow of high-skilled workers, especially in artificial intelligence, due to an increasing gap between domestic brain drain and the inflow of foreign talent, a new report shows.

South Korea ranked 35th out of 38 OECD countries in net per capita AI talent inflow, with a score of minus 0.36 in 2024, according to a report released Monday by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Sustainable Growth Initiative. The country lags far behind Luxembourg (8.92), Germany (2.13), and the United States (1.07), all of which posted net gains.

The report said the number of South Korean professionals working abroad rose from 125,000 in 2019 to 129,000 in 2021, the most recent year with available data. Meanwhile, the number of foreign professionals entering South Korea declined from 47,000 to 45,000 over the same period.

As a result, South Korea's "brain deficit," the gap between professionals leaving the country and those coming in, widened from 78,000 in 2019 to 84,000 in 2021. SGI defines the term as the net difference between outbound domestic talent and inbound foreign experts.

The report also noted that South Korea is a net exporter of researchers, citing data on the international movement of scientific researchers. The country’s overseas researcher exit rate was 2.85 percent, slightly higher than its foreign researcher entry rate of 2.64 percent. In a global ranking of 43 countries based on net researcher mobility, South Korea ranked 33rd.

SGI identified several structural problems fueling the talent outflow, including a performance evaluation system centered on short-term results, a rigid seniority-based pay scale, insufficient research infrastructure, and limited opportunities for international collaboration.

The report said the seniority-based pay and promotion system limits young researchers from fully developing their creativity and skills. It recommended expanding performance-based incentives, allowing flexible work arrangements such as exemptions from the 52-hour workweek for researchers in advanced fields, and increasing autonomy and engagement to retain top talent.


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