韩国央行-了解STEM人才外流的驱动因素及其政策含义（英）-2025.11-31页.pdfVIP

No.2025-31BANKOFKOREA

BOKIssueNote

November03,2025

UnderstandingtheDriversofSTEMTalentOutflowsand

TheirPolicyImplications

JoonChoiSunyoungJungByeongtakAhnYongjuneYoon

Economist,MacroeconomicSeniorEconomist,MacroeconomicJuniorEconomist,MacroeconomicHeadofMacroeconomicAnalysis

AnalysisTeam,ResearchAnalysisTeam,ResearchAnalysisTeam,ResearchDepartment,Team,ResearchDepartment,Bank

Department,BankofKoreaDepartment,BankofKoreaBankofKoreaofKorea

Tel.02-759-4211Tel.02-759-5263Tel.02-759-5233Tel.02-759-5261

joon@bok.or.krsjung@bok.or.krabt@bok.or.kryongjune.yoon@bok.or.kr

①Scienceandengineering(STEM)talentplaysacentralroleindrivingfuturegrowthinareas

suchasdigitaltransformation,artificialintelligence,andadvancedmanufacturing,forming

astrategicfoundationfornationalcompetitiveness.Theirtechnologicalcapabilitiesare

essentialassetsthatsupportboththeeconomyandnationalsecurity,andtheycannotbeeasily

replacedsimplythroughtherecruitmentofforeignworkersorincreasedcapitalinvestment.In

Korea,however,agrowingshareoftop-performinghighschoolstudentsarechoosingmedical

studies,reflectingastrongshifttowardthemedicalprofession,whilethosewhodopursuescience

andengineeringoftenlookabroadforbetterresearchenvironmentsandcareeropportunities,

contributingtoarisingtrendoftalentoutflows.

②TheoverseasoutflowofSTEMtalentrepresentsastructuralris