Venture and Startup Companies Create 68,000 Jobs... Unicorn Employment Increases by 40%

Analysis of Job Trends in Over 34,000 Venture and Startup Companies
9.7% Employment Growth Rate Over One Year... Contribution to Youth and Female Employment
Vice Minister of SMEs "Institutional Improvements Including Introduction of Multiple Voting Rights"

It has been revealed that domestic ventures and startups created over 68,000 jobs in the past year. In particular, they contributed to the creation of jobs for youth and women. Unicorn companies recorded an employment growth rate of as high as 39.4%, playing a central role in job creation.

◆Main Drivers of Job Creation... Increase in Youth and Women Employment = The Ministry of SMEs and Startups disclosed on the 9th the employment trends of ventures and startups as of the end of June this year. Among companies that are either venture businesses or have received venture investments, 34,362 companies with valid employment information employed a total of 761,082 people. This is an increase of 67,605 people compared to the end of June last year. The employment growth rate of ventures and startups was 9.7%, about three times higher than the overall employment insurance subscriber growth rate in South Korea (3.3%).

In particular, the employment growth rate of companies that received venture investments was 40.5%, more than 12 times higher than the overall insurance subscriber growth rate, clearly showing the employment growth effect of venture-invested companies.

Among venture and startup employment, youth employment (ages 15 to 29) accounted for 204,437 people (26.9%). Compared to one year ago, it increased by about 15,000 people, making up 22.4% of the total employment increase. In other words, 2 out of every 10 jobs created by ventures and startups in the past year were youth jobs. During the same period, the number of youth subscribers to employment insurance in South Korea increased by 29,948, with ventures and startups accounting for more than half (50.5%) of this increase.

Cho Joo-hyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Despite the recent triple high (high inflation, high interest rates, high exchange rates) crisis causing concerns in the economic environment, our ventures and startups showed a significantly higher employment growth rate compared to all companies. In particular, by taking responsibility for half of the youth job creation, they have established themselves as new leaders in job creation."

Compared to June last year, female employment increased by about 28,000, and women accounted for 42.2% of the total employment increase, indicating that for every 10 jobs created by ventures and startups, 4 were women.

◆Kurly Increased Jobs by 700... Unicorns Show Clear Job Creation Power = The venture company that increased jobs the most over the past year was Kurly, which operates the fresh food delivery platform 'Market Kurly.' The number of employees increased by 701 (37%) compared to one year ago, reaching 2,597 employees. Woowa Brothers, which operates the delivery application 'Baedal Minjok,' employed 1,741 people, an increase of 444 (34.2%) during the same period.

As of the end of last year, employment in ventures and startups was 722,027, about 2,000 more than South Korea's four major conglomerate groups (Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG, SK).

Looking at employment status by industry, three sectors?Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services (22,545 people), distribution and services (12,228 people), and electrical, mechanical, and equipment (7,925 people)?led the overall employment increase.

Among unicorn companies valued at over 1 trillion won, 14 companies included in the analysis employed 10,942 people as of the end of June. This is an increase of 3,092 people compared to the end of June last year, with an employment growth rate of 39.4%. On average, each company added 220.9 employees, exceeding the average employment increase per venture and startup (2.0 people) by 110 times.

Vice Minister Cho stated, "This year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will vigorously promote the introduction of multiple voting rights for unlisted venture companies and institutional improvements for the formation of private mother funds, striving to enable innovative ventures and startups to create more jobs and become the center of our economy’s leap and recovery."

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