Last year, the number of self-employed people decreased by nearly 40,000 compared to the previous ye..
Despite last year’s domestic stimulus measures, 40,000 self-employed businesses chose to close their businesses…2030 Decline Is Big
Last year, the number of self-employed people decreased by nearly 40,000 compared to the previous year. Although it has launched measures to boost the economy of people’s livelihoods, such as issuing consumption coupons, it seems that it was not enough to ease the difficulties of self-employed people. In particular, the decline in the 20s and 30s was remarkable. Analysts say that the cold wave of youth employment has led to a contraction in start-ups and early closure of businesses.
According to the National Statistical Portal of the National Data Agency on the 25th, 5.62 million self-employed people were employed last year, down 38,000 from the previous year. The drop was the largest in five years since 2020, when domestic demand was sharply contracted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is also negative for the second consecutive year following 2024. Although the government focused on recovering the domestic economy by paying consumption coupons last year, it has not improved the structural deterioration of self-employed businesses.
The number of self-employed people decreased by 75,000 in 2020 and then by 18,000 in 2021. Since then, 2022 and 2023 have increased by 119,000 and 57,000 respectively due to the effects of the pandemic, but they have turned to a decline (-32,000) again in 2024. It is attributed to accumulated high interest rates, rising labor costs, and sluggish domestic demand.
![[Yonhap News]](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0naHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmcnIHZpZXdCb3g9JzAgMCA2MjAgNDQxJz48L3N2Zz4=)
In particular, it was found that young self-employed people were hit hard. According to microdata on employment trends, the number of self-employed people aged 15 to 29 last year was 154,000, down 33,000 in a year. It has been backpedaling for three consecutive years following 2023 (-22,000 people) and 2024 (-3,000 people). The number of self-employed people in their 30s also decreased by 36,000 to 636,000, down for the third year following 2023 (-1,000) and 2024 (-35,000). According to the data center, the number of self-employed people aged 15 to 29 fell mainly in the transportation warehouse industry, including accommodation and restaurant businesses and delivery riders, and the number of people in their 30s fell mainly in the transportation warehouse business and wholesale and retail businesses.
In national tax statistics, the number of young entrepreneurs peaked at 396,000 in 2021 and then declined to about 350,000 in 2024. There is a possibility that young businesses with weak management know-how and capital have failed to respond to economic fluctuations or changes in trends and were forced to close their businesses.
On the other hand, the number of self-employed people aged 60 or older, the retirement age group, was 2,165, an increase of 68,000 from the previous year. The number of self-employed people aged 60 or older has increased for 10 consecutive years since 2016 (45,000).
The increase over the age of 60 was reduced from 113,000 in 2022 to 75,000 in 2023 and 23,000 in 2024, and then expanded again last year. The number of self-employed people in their 40s and 50s decreased by 3,000 and 34,000 last year, respectively. The number of founders in their 40s has declined for eight consecutive years since 2018.
Author
