SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Yonhap) — The amount of one-man self-employed companies in South Korea has reached its highest level in 15 years, according to data released Wednesday.
Statistics Korea reported that the number of non-wage workers, including the self-employed, totaled 6.72 million in August, an increase of 0.56 percent, or 38,000, from the same period last year.
One-man operations accounted for 23.4 percent of the country’s employed people, a 0.1 percentage point drop from the same period last year and the lowest level to date.
This year’s figure of 4.37 million for one-man operations is the highest since 2008, the agency said.
In addition, 1.41 million people employed others to run their businesses, a 4.4 percent year-on-year increase. However, the number of people running family-owned businesses without pay fell 5.5 percent year-on-year to 996,000.
Men made up 61.7 percent of all non-wage workers, or 4.15 million, while women accounted for 38.3 percent, or 2.58 million.
Those aged 60 and over made up the largest portion of non-wage workers, at 38.8 percent, followed by those in their 50s (27 percent) and 40s (19 percent).
Meanwhile, the number of economically inactive people in South Korea decreased by 83,000 year-on-year to 16.16 million in August. This figure accounted for 35.6 percent of the total population aged 15 and older.
Around 35.6 percent, or 5.9 million, of the economically inactive people were in charge of housework, while 20.4 percent said they were either studying, learning or preparing for exams to land jobs.
The number of people who chose to remain out of work grew 0.6 percent year-on-year in 2023. Of those in their 20s and 30s, 32.5 percent said they had difficulty finding jobs they wanted, while 23.9 percent said they took a break to be better prepared for their future careers and 18.2 percent cited health problems.
South Korea’s employment rate for people aged 15 and older rose 0.5 percentage point year-on-year to 63.2 percent in September, the highest since the statistics agency began compiling related data in 1982. The unemployment rate was 2.3 percent, and the rate among people aged 15-29 was 5.2 percent.