Coffee Shops Increased While Clothing Stores Sharply Decreased... Ulsan's 5-Year Business Survey Shows Growth in 'Everyday Life-Related Industries'

2015~2019 Industry Trends: Increase in Coffee Shops and Convenience Stores

Decrease in Shoe Stores, Clothing Shops, and Karaoke Rooms; Post-COVID-19 Data to Be Released in January Next Year

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The number of coffee shops has increased, while shoe and clothing stores have decreased. Which retail sectors were popular in Ulsan during the five years before COVID-19? And which industries are disappearing?

According to an analysis of local business establishments in Ulsan over the past five years (2015?2019), the city found that businesses closely related to citizens' daily lives, such as accommodation, food service, and other service industries, steadily increased.

As of 2019, the number of business establishments in Ulsan was 87,054, showing a 1.6% increase with 1,392 more establishments than the previous year.

The number of business establishments in Ulsan consistently increased over the past five years, from 80,805 in 2015 to 87,054 in 2019.

The criteria for business establishments include all operators with at least one employee (individuals, corporations, non-corporate entities, associations, and organizations).

By industry sector, manufacturing businesses increased by 430 compared to the previous year, showing the highest growth rate of 5.9%. Accommodation and food service businesses and associations and other personal services increased by 476 and 231 respectively, marking a 2.5% increase from the previous year.

By detailed industry, coffee specialty shops and metal product manufacturing increased notably by 235 and 202 respectively within one year.

On the other hand, karaoke rooms, PC gaming rooms (PC bangs), and non-life insurance businesses showed a declining trend.

The number of employees in Ulsan’s business establishments was 533,187 in 2019, an increase of 6,102 people or 1.2% from the previous year.

Looking at the trend over the past five years, except for a brief decline in 2017, the overall trend was upward.

By industry, construction (5.5%), health and social welfare (4.7%), and accommodation and food service (1.4%) sectors saw the largest increases in employee numbers compared to the previous year.

Based on this, an analysis of business establishment composition by industrial structure showed that Ulsan’s tertiary industry, centered on services such as wholesale and retail trade and accommodation and food service, accounted for 86.98% (75,720 establishments) of all businesses.

The secondary industry, centered on manufacturing, accounted for 12.98% (11,298 establishments), and the primary industry, centered on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, accounted for 0.04% (36 establishments).

The composition of employees by industrial structure was 312,498 (58.61%) in the tertiary industry, 220,511 (41.36%) in the secondary industry, and 178 (0.03%) in the primary industry, in that order.

The sectors showing continuous growth over the past four years were those closely related to daily life.

As of 2019, Ulsan’s daily life-related industries numbered 43,789, accounting for 50.3% of all business establishments. The detailed composition was restaurants with 16,635 (38.0%), retail trade with 9,349 (21.4%), and life services with 8,219 (18.8%).

Examining the increase and decrease of major industries from 2016 to 2019, restaurants and life service industries increased, while retail trade began to decline starting in 2018.

Among restaurants, coffee specialty shops showed the largest increase, rising by 552 (52.7%) compared to 2016, and chicken specialty shops also increased by 94 (9.4%).

Conversely, in retail trade, shoe retail stores decreased by 31 (12.1%), and in leisure industries, karaoke rooms decreased by 62 (6.8%).

Ulsan City conducts annual surveys on the distribution of business establishments and employee numbers by industry to analyze and predict industrial structural changes and use the data as a basis for policy formulation.

The analysis of business establishment changes after the COVID-19 outbreak will be conducted based on the results of the “2020 Economic Census” carried out in June this year, which will be announced in December. The findings will be analyzed and released in January next year.

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