Number of SMEs South Korea 2017-2022

In 2022, there were more than eight million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea, up from about 7.7 million in the previous year. The number of SMEs has increased steadily in recent years, particularly in wholesale and retail trade and the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. More than half of the SMEs were located in the metropolitan area of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province (also known collectively as Sudogwon).Classification of SMEs in South KoreaSouth Korean SMEs comprise micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. Each is classified by revenue rather than by the number of employees, which is the case in many other countries. According to this definition, SMEs are for-profit companies and, in some cases, social enterprises and cooperatives whose total assets do not exceed 500 billion South Korean won. In addition, they should not be a subsidiary of a large company.Companies are classified as SMEs depending on their average three-year revenue, with different thresholds depending on the industry. For real estate companies, the threshold is 40 billion won or less, whereas, for some sectors of the manufacturing industry, 150 billion won or less would be the standard to be categorized as an SME. Domestic SME employmentSMEs in South Korea account for about 99.9 percent of all enterprises and have always been a crucial source of job creation. The number of people employed by SMEs in South Korea amounted to about 17.5 million in 2020, accounting for more than 80 percent of the country’s total workforce. Most workers were employed in wholesale and retail SMEs, followed by SMEs operating in the manufacturing sector.

在2022年，韩国共有超过八百万家中小企业（SMEs），较上一年增长至约770万家。近年来，中小企业数量稳步增长，尤其在批发零售贸易及信息和通信技术（ICT）领域。超过半数的中小企业位于首尔、仁川及京畿道（统称为苏东贡）的大都市区。韩国中小企业分类韩国的中小企业包括微型、小型和中型企业。与许多其他国家不同，它们的分类依据的是收入而非雇员数量。根据此定义，中小企业是盈利性公司，在某些情况下也包括社会企业和合作社，其总资产不超过5000亿韩元。此外，它们不应为大公司的子公司。企业的分类取决于其平均三年的收入，不同行业有不同的门槛。对于房地产公司，门槛为400亿韩元或以下，而对于某些制造业领域，150亿韩元或以下则是被归类为中小企业的标准。韩国国内中小企业就业情况韩国的中小企业占所有企业的约99.9%，始终是创造就业的关键来源。2020年，韩国中小企业雇佣的员工人数约为1750万，占全国总劳动力的80%以上。大多数员工在批发零售中小企业工作，其次是制造业领域的中小企业。