Average Debt of 'Self-Employed with Employees' in the Seoul Metropolitan Area is 330 Million KRW

A restaurant in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul, posting a closure notice. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seonhee] The average debt of self-employed individuals with employees in the Seoul metropolitan area exceeded 300 million KRW last year.

According to Statistics Korea on the 19th, the average debt of households headed by self-employed individuals with employees who held debt in the Seoul metropolitan area last year was 331.47 million KRW. This represents an increase of 36.59 million KRW (12.4%) compared to the previous year's average debt of 294.88 million KRW.

The average debt of self-employed households with employees nationwide also increased by 8.1% from the previous year, reaching 249.66 million KRW. The average debt of all self-employed households nationwide rose by 6.6% to 117.96 million KRW.

This is interpreted as a result of the intensified difficulties faced by self-employed individuals due to strengthened social distancing measures amid COVID-19, with the impact particularly concentrated on self-employed households in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Among self-employed households with employees holding debt in the Seoul metropolitan area last year, 7 out of 10 households (73.5%) responded that their debt was either "somewhat burdensome" or "very burdensome."

Additionally, 1 out of 5 households (22.1%) answered that their debt is expected to increase in the future. The remaining 77.9% anticipated that their debt would either remain the same or decrease.

Meanwhile, the average debt of households with regular employees holding debt in the Seoul metropolitan area last year was 159.48 million KRW. The proportion of households with regular employees who found their debt burdensome (62.7%) was also lower than that of self-employed households.

Furthermore, the average debt of small-scale self-employed households without employees was 146.20 million KRW, and that of temporary or daily worker households was 76.24 million KRW.