[Economy 365]
As the number of new startups declines and closures of long-standing businesses increase, the growth rate of active business operators reached its lowest level since 2005 last year.
The number of active business operators stood at approximately 10.32 million last year, marking a mere 1.7% increase from the previous year.
The number of new business operators fell to approximately 1.168 million, marking a decline for five consecutive years. Meanwhile, the number of business owners who closed their shops after operating for five years or more reached approximately 317,000, the highest figure since relevant statistics began to be compiled.
"Business sluggishness" accounted for more than half of the reasons cited for closures.
The number of active business operators in the food service industry fell below 800,000, and the number of restaurants that closed after operating for 20 years or more also hit an all-time high.
Regarding Homeplus, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, the government has decided to provide a total of 440 billion won in emergency liquidity to partner companies and small business owners.
The support limit for small business owners will be increased from the existing 70 million won to 100 million won, and interest rates will be lowered by 0.5 percentage points.
(Video Editing: Choi Hye-ran)
*This article was produced using AI audio.
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