(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, March 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s data-related technology industry expanded to be worth over 19 trillion won (US$16.76 billion) last year, a report showed Tuesday, as the country seeks to develop the industry as part of its digital New Deal initiative.
Sales from the local industry reached an estimated 19.27 trillion won, up 14.3 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT, citing a report from the Korea Data Agency.
By category, sales from data provision services reached 9.38 trillion won last year, followed by data consulting and related services at 7.44 trillion won.
The industry’s total workforce stood at 366,021 last year, up 6.2 percent on-year, while those who directly work in data-related fields reached 101,967, up 14.5 percent over the same period.
The report estimated that the industry requires an additional 12,114 workers by 2025, with data developers most in need.
The latest report comes as South Korea last year launched its digital New Deal program, which aims to spend 58.2 trillion won in key tech industries to create over 900,000 jobs by 2025.
Under the initiative, the country aims to establish a broad database that collects data from private and public networks and utilize the data to develop new technology, such as artificial intelligence.
(Yonhap)
