The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operated by female entrepreneurs has exceeded 3 million for the first time in South Korea.

According to the data released by the Women Economic Research Institute (WERI) on Friday, the total number of SMEs run by women in Korea stands at 3.14 million, up 6.3 percent from a year ago.

The number of employees working in those female-operated SMEs also rose by 258,238 compared to the previous year, totaling 5.28 million. Combined sales stood at 564.6 trillion won ($433 billion), up by 65.3 trillion won from last year.

Women accounted for 45.9 percent of the overall entrepreneurship rate, with the annual average growth rate of female entrepreneurship in technology-based industries at 5.6 percent, which was higher than that of male entrepreneurship at 1.6 percent.

Of the workforce in female-operated businesses, 72 percent were women, which was higher than the 31 percent of women workers in men-operated businesses.

By industry, women-operated SMEs were still dominant in sectors such as retail, real estate, and accommodation and food services, accounting for 65.7 percent of the total, while men-operated businesses in those sectors stood at 44 percent.

Looking at the scale of the workforce, the share of single-person businesses was higher at women-operated SMEs, at 79.9 percent, compared to 71.9 percent among men-operated SMEs.

In terms of business tenure, female-run SMEs had a high proportion of businesses with less than 3 years of experience, accounting for 40.2 percent, indicating that many are in the early stages of entrepreneurship.

Among male-operated SMEs, on the other hand, those with more than 7 years of experience accounted for 43.9 percent of all male-owned SMEs.

By Lee Sae-bom and Chang Iou-chung

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]