37% of Women Entrepreneurs Feel Disadvantaged Compared to Men in Balancing Work and Family Responsibilities

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Announces Results of Women Entrepreneurs Survey
Debt Ratio Decreased Compared to 2022, but Profitability Down
Top Strength of Women-Owned Businesses: "Attention to Detail"
"Financial Support" Identified as Most Needed Policy

Domestic women entrepreneurs perceive the greatest difficulty as the 'burden of balancing work and family' compared to male entrepreneurs.

On the 26th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the results of the '2024 Women Entrepreneurs Survey' containing this information.

In 2023, women-owned businesses showed improvements in stability and productivity compared to the previous year, but profitability and activity levels decreased. The debt ratio dropped from 135.2% to 123.1%, but the net profit margin, a profitability indicator, fell from 5.1% to 3.5%. The average sales per person slightly increased from 205 million KRW to 208 million KRW.

Export experience and the export-to-sales ratio each increased by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous year. Export experience rose from 1.9% to 2.4%, and the export-to-sales ratio increased from 2.6% to 3.1%. Research and development investment experience remained similar at 4.2% compared to 4.3% the previous year, but the average investment amount significantly increased from 118 million KRW to 249 million KRW.

The area where women entrepreneurs were most disadvantaged compared to male entrepreneurs was identified as the 'burden of balancing work and family' (36.6%). The top strength was 'attention to detail,' and the proportions of respondents citing organizational affinity (up 5.8 percentage points), communication skills (up 4.1 percentage points), and planning ability (up 3.4 percentage points) increased compared to the previous year.

Among major support policies, the most needed support for growth was 'financial support' (31.7%), followed by 'tax support' (29.8%), 'human resources support' (16.1%), and 'market access support' (14.8%). Financial support also had the highest utilization effectiveness at 90.8%.

Among key factors affecting business activities, 'overall economic downturn leading to decreased demand' was 51.3%, down from 54.6% the previous year, but 'increased costs such as labor and raw materials' rose from 39.3% to 40.6%, and 'intensified competition among companies' increased from 37.7% to 38.6%.

Kim Jeong-ju, Director of SME Strategy Planning, stated, "To support the effective growth of women-owned businesses, whose contribution and importance to our economic growth are increasing day by day, we will prepare the '2nd Five-Year Basic Plan for Promoting Women Entrepreneurs' Activities' within this year, reflecting the current status and policy demands revealed in this survey."