Abstract Handling imbalanced datasets in binary classification, especially in employment big data, is challenging. Traditional methods like oversampling and undersampling have limitations. This paper integrates TabNet and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to address class imbalance. The generator creates synthetic samples for the minority class, and the discriminator, using TabNet, ensures authenticity. Evaluations on benchmark datasets show significant improvements in accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score for the minority class, outperforming traditional methods. This integration offers a robust solution for imbalanced datasets in employment big data, leading to fairer and more effective predictive models.

Recently, not only traditional statistical techniques but also machine learning algorithms have been used to make more accurate bankruptcy predictions. But the insolvency rate of companies dealing with financial institutions is very low, resulting in a data imbalance problem. In particular, since data imbalance negatively affects the performance of artificial intelligence models, it is necessary to first perform the data imbalance process. In additional, as artificial intelligence algorithms are advanced for precise decision-making, regulatory pressure related to securing transparency of Artificial Intelligence models is gradually increasing, such as mandating the installation of explanation functions for Artificial Intelligence models. Therefore, this study aims to present guidelines for eXplainable Artificial Intelligence-based corporate bankruptcy prediction methodology applying SMOTE techniques and LIME algorithms to solve a data imbalance problem and model transparency problem in predicting corporate bankruptcy. The implications of this study are as follows. First, it was confirmed that SMOTE can effectively solve the data imbalance issue, a problem that can be easily overlooked in predicting corporate bankruptcy. Second, through the LIME algorithm, the basis for predicting bankruptcy of the machine learning model was visualized, and derive improvement priorities of financial variables that increase the possibility of bankruptcy of companies. Third, the scope of application of the algorithm in future research was expanded by confirming the possibility of using SMOTE and LIME through case application.