Korea's Data Industry to Reach 20 Trillion Won Next Year... 'Data Scientists' Urgently Needed on the Ground

2020 Data Industry Status Survey
Recorded 19.2736 Trillion KRW This Year
Average Annual Growth of 11.3% Over 3 Years
Expected to Easily Surpass 20 Trillion KRW Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Last year, the domestic data industry market size grew by more than 14% compared to the previous year, approaching 19.3 trillion KRW. The average annual growth rate over the past three years was also in the 11% range, raising expectations for surpassing 20 trillion KRW next year. However, despite the rapid growth of the data industry, there is still a shortage of necessary personnel in the field, highlighting the urgent need for government institutional support.

This Year at 19 Trillion KRW... Up 14.3% from Previous Year

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Data Industry Promotion Agency announced the '2020 Data Industry Status Survey' on the 16th, which investigated the domestic data industry market size, workforce status, and other activity conditions. This survey is based on responses from a sample of 1,364 companies out of 8,014 data companies last year, analyzing market size, job personnel, and other statuses.

The total market size in 2020 was 19.2736 trillion KRW, an increase of 2.4154 trillion KRW (14.3%) compared to the previous year. This exceeds the average annual sales growth rates of 11.3% and 8.8% over the past three and five years, respectively.

The total market size is the sum of direct sales related to data and indirect sales such as advertising expenses and system operation management fees. Among these, direct sales amounted to 11.435 trillion KRW, an increase of 1.4602 trillion KRW (14.6%) from the previous year.

Major sectors include ▲Data sales and provision services (9.3752 trillion KRW), accounting for about half of total sales, followed by ▲Data construction and consulting services (7.4361 trillion KRW), and ▲Data processing and management solution development and supply (2.4623 trillion KRW). Among these, sales of analytics solutions and security solutions increased notably by 38.0% and 26.3%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

31% More Data Scientists Needed Over Next 5 Years

The total number of data-related personnel in the data industry was 101,967, an increase of 12,909 (14.5%) compared to the previous year. By job category, data developers numbered 34,085 and data engineers 16,450, together accounting for 50% of the workforce.

By 2025, data businesses will need an additional 12,114 personnel. Regarding the shortage rate by job, demand is highest for data scientists (31.4%), followed by data analysts (14.5%), data developers (14.5%), and data consultants (10.8%). It is estimated that about 5,800 more data developers will be needed.

In response, the Ministry of Science and ICT is also promoting the data industry. To timely supply high-quality data needed by the industry, it is advancing the Data Dam project, a core part of the Digital New Deal. This year, it will strengthen the data voucher project with a budget of 123 billion KRW and data commercialization support worth 2.6 billion KRW. It plans to nurture 514 advanced young talents in the data field this year and cultivate 250 new specialized personnel in areas such as data visualization and processing based on this year's standards. Through AI graduate schools and Innovation Squares, it will accelerate the training of data experts needed in the industrial field.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.