Women-Owned Businesses Reach Record High of 2.77 Million: "Increase in Tech Startups Drives Female Employment"

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Announces Survey Results on Status and Conditions of Women-Owned Businesses
Women-Owned Businesses Contribute to Female Employment... Increase in Tech Startups
Improved Management Indicators and Reduced Experiences of Discrimination

Women Entrepreneurs Attending the Korea Women’s Economic Forum / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The number of women-owned businesses in South Korea reached a record high of 2.77 million, accounting for 40.2% of all businesses. The number of women entrepreneurs in technology-based industries has increased, and the management indicators of women-owned businesses have also improved.

According to the results of the Status and Actual Condition Survey of Women-Owned Businesses released by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on the 14th, as of 2019, women-owned businesses accounted for 40.2% of all businesses, totaling 2.77 million, marking an all-time high. This represents a 4.4% increase compared to the previous year.

By industry, wholesale and retail trade (26.3%), real estate (22.5%), and accommodation and food services (17.8%) accounted for 66.6% of the total, but the proportion of technology-based industries has been on the rise recently. Technology-based industries, which collectively refer to manufacturing and knowledge-based service industries, increased from 11.5% in 2015 to 12.2% in 2018.

The workforce employed by women-owned businesses totaled 4.97 million, accounting for 23.6% of all workers. The female employment ratio in women-owned businesses (69.3%) was 2.3 times higher than that in male-owned businesses (30.6%).

Women entrepreneurs numbered 660,000 as of last year, growing at an average annual rate of 3.1% over the past five years. In particular, women entrepreneurs in technology-based industries are increasing faster than men. From 2017 to 2021, the average annual growth rate of technology startups was 7.6% for women and 3.0% for men.

According to a survey conducted from August to October last year targeting 3,000 women-owned businesses with sales exceeding 500 million KRW, key management indicators such as debt ratio reduction and productivity increase showed improvement.

The average business age of women-owned businesses was 11.3 years, and the average assets were 2.66 billion KRW. Among key management indicators, stability and activity levels were higher in women-owned businesses compared to general small and medium manufacturing enterprises. Although productivity was relatively lower compared to general SMEs, it showed significant improvement compared to previous surveys.

Experiences of discriminatory treatment against women-owned businesses have decreased. The experience of perceived managerial discrimination by women-owned businesses was 1.6% (3.2% as of 2018), indicating improved awareness and reduced discrimination against women-owned businesses.

The education needs of women managers were surveyed in the order of marketing (44.0%), management competency development (24.0%), and leadership education such as entrepreneurship (23.1%).

The areas where women-owned businesses feel managerial difficulties were securing sales channels and marketing management (48.6%), financing (35.5%), and securing manpower (25.5%), in that order.

Among government support policies, the most effective system was the sales channel support system (86.3%), followed by financial support (80.0%) and tax support (79.9%).

Kim Hee-cheon, Director of SME Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "This survey confirmed that women-owned businesses contribute to job creation through entrepreneurship and female employment," adding, "We plan to actively incorporate the demands of women-owned businesses into the '2022 Women-Owned Business Activity Promotion Implementation Plan' and make policy efforts accordingly."

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