Disabled Enterprises See Improved Business Sentiment in April and Better Outlook for May Compared to Previous Month

April Business Sentiment Index at 62.0 Points
May Outlook Index at 75.3 Points
Both Fall Short of the 100-Point Benchmark for Economic Recovery

In April 2025, the business sentiment among companies run by people with disabilities, as well as the outlook for May, showed improvement compared to the previous month. However, the overall recovery remains sluggish, as the Business Survey Index (BSI)?with 100 points as the baseline indicating economic improvement?still falls short of this threshold.

The Disabled Enterprise Business Support Center, an agency under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, announced on May 29 that it had released the "April 2025 Trends Analysis of Disabled Enterprises." According to the survey results, the business sentiment index for April stood at 62.0 points, up 11.2 points from March, while the outlook index for May rose by 8.7 points to 75.3 points compared to the previous month. Nevertheless, both indices remain below the standard (over 100 points) that signals economic improvement, indicating that the overall pace of recovery is still weak. The Business Survey Index quantifies subjective opinions such as business performance and plans; a score above 100 points indicates economic improvement, while a score below 100 points signals deterioration.

By region, the business sentiment index for April increased in all areas except for the Chungcheong region, which remained unchanged at 53.2 points. Notably, the Jeju region saw the largest increase, rising by 29.2 points to 65.3 points compared to the previous month. The outlook index for May was also highest in the Jeju region at 81.9 points (up 6.9 points), followed by the Seoul metropolitan area at 79.3 points (up 12.6 points), and the Gyeongsang region at 76.4 points (up 17.0 points). The rise in Jeju is attributed to increased consumer sentiment due to higher demand for spring outings and tourism.

By industry, all sectors except manufacturing (53.3 points, up 0.5 points) saw significant increases of more than 12 points in the April sentiment index: other sectors at 68.5 points (up 16.1 points), wholesale and retail at 65.3 points (up 15.3 points), services at 64.0 points (up 13.6 points), and construction at 61.6 points (up 12.5 points). The outlook index for May also showed improvement across all industries.

By degree of disability, the April sentiment index rose to 62.9 points (up 11.7 points) for those with mild disabilities and 60.2 points (up 9.4 points) for those with severe disabilities. The May outlook index was 74.9 points (up 9.0 points) for mild disabilities and 77.2 points (up 9.7 points) for severe disabilities.

Park Maru, Director of the Disabled Enterprise Business Support Center, stated, "We will strive to create a growth environment closely aligned with the realities of disabled enterprises by gathering on-site feedback and conducting regular trend analyses."