9 out of 10 ICT SMEs Had No New Hires

2023 ICT SME Survey
Average New Hires in 2022: 3.6
8 out of 10 Companies Report Similar or Decreased Sales

It was found that 9 out of 10 ICT small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) did not hire new employees the year before last.

According to the results of the Ministry of Science and ICT's '2023 ICT SME Survey' announced on the 3rd, only 12.6% of ICT SMEs responded that they had 'new hires' in 2022. The remaining 87.4% said they had 'no new hires.'

The proportion of respondents who reported new hires was only half of the previous year's survey result (24.9%).

The average number of new hires in ICT SMEs in 2022 was 3.6, nearly one less than the previous year (4.5).

Eight out of ten surveyed companies reported that their sales were similar to or lower than the previous year, and more than one in four said their financial situation had worsened.

When asked how sales changed in 2022 compared to 2021, 57.0% answered 'similar,' and the response of 'decreased' (26.7%) was higher than 'increased' (16.3%).

Companies with decreased sales cited 'domestic demand slump' (61.9%) and 'intensified industry competition' (22.3%) as reasons.

The average amount of new external funding raised by ICT SMEs was 1.388 billion KRW, with general financing including banks accounting for the largest share at 73.7%.

Regarding financial conditions, 61.4% responded that the situation was similar to the previous year, but 26.9% answered 'significantly worsened' (8.2%) or 'worsened' (18.7%). Only 11.7% of companies said their financial situation had improved.

When asked about management difficulties, 70.8% of respondents cited 'securing funds.' Only 6.5% of companies exported overseas or expanded abroad.

This survey was conducted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and the Korea Venture Business Association from September to November last year, sampling 2,500 companies out of 125,476 ICT SMEs. The sampling error is ±1.92% at a 95% confidence level.

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