Face-to-face services hit hard by COVID-19... One in four aspiring entrepreneurs choose "Coffee Shops or Chicken Restaurants"

JobKorea and Albamon Survey of 1,093 Job Seekers

Top Startup Item Considered: 'Franchise Business'
Initial Startup Capital: '30 to 50 Million KRW'

Want to Start a Business, but Most Remain in 'Organizational Retention' Type Reality

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been revealed that 3 out of 10 job seekers have considered starting a business instead of seeking employment. Among the job seekers who had considered entrepreneurship, one in four dreamed of starting a franchise business such as a coffee shop or a chicken specialty store.

Employment platform JobKorea and part-time job platform Albamon announced the results of a survey on the 'status of entrepreneurship consideration' among 1,093 job seekers on the 20th. Among the job seekers who participated in the survey, 31.7% answered that they had considered starting a business instead of getting a job. By gender, male job seekers accounted for 33.6%, higher than female job seekers at 29.7%. By age group, job seekers in their 40s had the highest rate at 45.6%, followed by those in their 30s at 36.8% and those in their 20s at 26.5%.

Among job seekers who had considered entrepreneurship, 69.4% had a business idea. Franchise businesses such as coffee shops and chicken stores ranked first at 23.3%. The food service industry including restaurants and food trucks (17.1%), online shopping malls (13.8%), service agency businesses (8.8%), content-related businesses such as YouTubers (7.1%), and kiosks and unmanned stores (6.7%) followed. Female job seekers mainly preferred franchise businesses (28.6%) and online shopping malls (20.5%) for entrepreneurship. Male job seekers showed the highest preference for the food service industry such as food trucks (19.5%), showing a difference.

The initial startup capital they considered was most commonly between 30 million and less than 50 million KRW (18.5%). This was followed by '10 million to less than 30 million KRW' (18.2%), '50 million to less than 70 million KRW' (14.5%), and '70 million to less than 100 million KRW' (12.7%). More than half, 61.3%, were currently saving funds for starting a business.

Among those who considered entrepreneurship, many sought work-life balance (WLB). There were also quite a few responses citing future uncertainty as a reason. Reasons for considering entrepreneurship instead of employment included 'Because I wanted to try my own business someday' (30.3%), 'To work freely and live economically and with time flexibility' (24.3%), 'Because I don't think I can work long in a company' (14.7%), 'Because income from company work seems limited' (13.9%), and 'Because employment seems impossible at this point, so as an alternative' (13.3%). Among those in their 20s, the reason 'I wanted to try my own business' (36.8%) was higher than other age groups. For those in their 30s, 'To work freely and have time and economic flexibility' (28.5%) was highest, and for those in their 40s, 'Because I don't think I can work long in a company' (26.9%) was the most common reason.

Among the survey participants, the most common career type was 'organizational type' (43.8%), who remain in a company until retirement age. This was followed by 'freelancer type' (36.7%), who build experience and then become independent, and 'entrepreneur type' (19.5%), who pursue their own business. In other words, while 31.7% of job seekers considered starting a business, only 19.5% identified their career type as entrepreneur type. Among female job seekers, the proportion who identified as 'freelancer type' was 8.1 percentage points (p) higher than male job seekers. Male job seekers had a 9.7%p higher rate of identifying as 'entrepreneur type' compared to female job seekers.

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