(image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — About half of the employees hired by South Korean social ventures are under 30 years of age.
According to a report from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the number of social ventures in South Korea totaled 1,509 as of August 2020, up 511 from a year prior.
Among them, 30.1 percent are engaged in providing products and services for the settlement of social issues, followed by 22.7 percent that focus on promoting the employment of socially vulnerable groups, and 17 percent that run platforms for socially vulnerable groups.
The number of employees working for the social ventures totaled 17,427 (based on 1,082 social ventures), with 45.7 percent or 7,962 younger than 30.
Among those hired by social ventures, 44.1 percent (5,128) were socially-vulnerable people, including elderly and handicapped people.
The average revenue of the social ventures stood at 2.26 billion won (US$2.04 million) as of 2019, up 180 million won from a year before.
The data also showed that 44.9 percent of the social ventures achieved an operating profit within six months of being established. On average, it took about 10.2 months for the social ventures to chalk up an operating profit.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
