KRIVET Lays Out a National Talent Development Strategy for the Population, AI and Climate Triple Transition

October 8, 2026 -- Even as shorter technology half-lives make lifelong learning more important in the AI era, Korea's budget for lifelong and vocational education stands at 1.35% of total education spending, roughly one-sixty-first of the 82.32% that goes to early childhood, primary and secondary schooling.

The Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET, president Ko Hyewon) analyzed how three intertwined shifts will hit the labor market and training systems, and drew up a national human resources development strategy in response, in its report "National Talent Development Strategy for the Triple Transition Era". The three shifts are demographic change, new technologies such as AI, and the climate crisis.

※ "Triple transition" refers to the compound change created when three forces intertwine: rapid shifts in new technologies such as AI (Transition 1), the environmental crisis and the tighter regulation that follows (Transition 2), and demographic change driven by low birth rates and an aging population (Transition 3).

※ The study's Delphi survey covered 60 experts from the population, AI and climate transition fields and from education and industry settings (researchers including professors 65.0%, corporate HR managers 18.3%, teachers 16.7%). It was run alongside six visioning workshops and focus group interviews (FGI) for each transition area.

The main findings from the report are as follows.

National education funding is concentrated on schooling early in life, leaving support for learning across the whole lifespan thin.

An analysis of the Ministry of Education's 2024 initial budget of 89.5664 trillion won found that early childhood, primary and secondary education received 82.32% (73.7290 trillion won), higher education 16.16% (14.4772 trillion won), and lifelong and vocational education 1.35% (1.2162 trillion won). Spending on early childhood, primary and secondary education is about 61 times that of lifelong and vocational education.

From a life-cycle perspective, 82.32% of the total budget goes to the first 20 years of life, while lifelong education spending for the 30s through the 80s amounts to only 1.35%.

The expert Delphi survey showed clear convergence on the most important and urgent policy for each of the three transitions.

For the demographic transition, the top policy in both importance and urgency was "maximizing the use of women and older workers," including preventing career interruption for women and extending the retirement age. For the AI transition, it was "developing core AI technologies and building an industrial ecosystem," covering AI semiconductors and very large AI models.

For the climate transition, the top priority was "accelerating the shift to a future clean energy system," including renewable power grids and EV charging infrastructure, followed by training master's- and doctoral-level "climate technology specialists" in fields such as climate tech, CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage) and hydrogen.

Experts summarized the ideal talent for the triple-transition era as "hybrid professionals who connect technology, people and the environment."

The core competencies they named are a sense of balance that keeps critical thinking and ethical judgment intact while working with AI, a sense of responsibility toward coexisting with future generations, and the resilience to renew oneself as career life cycles change rapidly.

To develop such talent, the analysis says the center of education should shift in stages: digital literacy education for all citizens in the short term, practical, industry-ready talent development in the medium term, and creative, interdisciplinary talent for new job roles in the long term.

Hwang Seongsu, vice president of KRIVET, said: "The demographic, AI technology and environmental transitions are not separate problems but structural changes that feed into each other, and the current human resources development system, skewed toward schooling early in life, has limits in responding to them."

He also advised: "Governance should be rebuilt by creating a powerful committee under the president to handle planning, execution and evaluation of human resources policy for the triple transition, backed by a dedicated headquarters-level organization to support it in practice."

He went on: "On top of upgrading the lifelong learning account system and gradually expanding who can use lifelong education vouchers, we should push to introduce a (tentatively named) 'capability development benefit' that covers living costs and training fees during learning periods, raising lifelong learning to a basic right of citizens."

He concluded: "This study does not offer detailed practical strategies. It sets out the policy agenda we need to discuss together now and the overall policy design, so public hearings on the 10 policy recommendations and follow-up research on concrete measures need to follow."