Sejong Dec. 28 (BNA): The number of small businesses in South Korea grew by about 5 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year despite the pandemic, but their profits fell sharply, government data showed on Tuesday.
The number of companies in the country reached 2,902,000 with fewer than five workers as of the end of 2020, up 4.7 percent from the previous year, according to data from Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Small, Medium Enterprises and Startups in South Korea. It was reported by Yonhap News Agency.
The largest number of these companies were retailers and wholesalers with 915 companies, followed by hotels and restaurants with 710, and manufacturers with 369 companies.
The number of hotels and restaurants rose 7.5 percent year over year, with the number of manufacturing firms increasing 3.7 percent.
However, the number of workers employed by those small businesses shrank 13.5 percent year-over-year to 5,573,000 by the end of 2020.
Arts, sports and entertainment companies reported a 20.5 percent decrease in their combined workforce, with salaries for retailers and wholesalers down 16.7 percent.
Sales per company averaged 224 million won (US$188,806) in 2020, down 4.5 percent from the previous year, with operating profit per company down 43.1 percent to 19 million won.
Their debt totaled 294.4 trillion won last year, a whopping 19.3 percent increase from the previous year.
Small businesses and merchants bore the brunt of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea as strict social distancing rules slashed customers and demand for their products.
MI