The number of self-employed individuals has declined for four consecutive months due to the effects of the economic recession. The number of business closures filed and requests for government assistance has also surged, nearing the annual target for this year.
According to Statistics Korea on the 18th, the number of self-employed individuals as of April is 5,615,000, which is a decrease of 6,000 compared to the same month last year. This is the result of a monthly decline in the number of self-employed individuals since January. In January, there was a drop of 28,000, in February 14,000, in March 2,000, and in April, 6,000.
The number of self-employed individuals showed a recovery trend with monthly increases since 2022, but it has recorded a decline this year. Although there were months of decrease last year, the annual trend was relatively stable; however, this year, there is a rapid contraction in employment conditions.
The proportion of self-employed individuals compared to total employed persons is also on a downward trend. For the period from January to April this year, the proportion of self-employed individuals decreased from 19.4% to 19.7%, down by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year. While the number of employed persons is increasing, the share of self-employed individuals is decreasing.
In particular, the decline in 'self-employed individuals with employees' is notable. Those with employees have been decreasing for seven consecutive months. In contrast, 'one-person self-employed individuals' have increased for three consecutive months since February. This suggests that due to worsening economic conditions, there is a growing tendency to reduce employment burdens and shift to small-scale operations.
Meanwhile, the demand for the government’s business closure support program has significantly increased. According to the ‘Hope Return Package One-Stop Business Closure Support’ operated by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, support applications in the first quarter of this year reached 23,785, a 64.2% increase compared to the same period last year. As of May 9, the cumulative number of applications is 29,269, nearly reaching the annual target of 30,000.