7 Out of 10 Sole Proprietors Earn Less Than 1 Million Won a Month... 8.7% Report "Zero Income"

Annual income less than 12 million won... 67% of all sole proprietors

Used goods from closed stores gather at Hwanghak-dong Kitchen Street in Jung-gu, Seoul

Seven out of ten sole proprietors earn less than 1 million won per month on average. More than 1 million businesses reported zero income.

According to data obtained from the National Tax Service by Assemblyman Kim Youngjin of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee, the number of sole proprietorships that filed comprehensive income tax returns for the 2023 tax year was 12,178,914, an increase of 6.2% compared to the previous year (11,464,368).

Among them, 1,055,024 businesses, or 8.7% of the total, reported zero income. This is an increase of 11.7% from the previous year (944,250). This figure refers to cases where income, after deducting necessary expenses from total revenue, was zero or negative.

The number of businesses that reported annual income but earned less than 12 million won was 8,165,161, accounting for 67% of the total. This is a 6.5% increase from the previous year (7,664,768).

Breaking down annual income by range: 2,502,667 businesses (20.5%) earned between 12 million and 60 million won; 281,617 businesses (2.3%) earned between 60 million and 120 million won; and 174,445 businesses (1.4%) earned more than 120 million won.

The majority of sole proprietors were engaged in livelihood-based sectors such as retail, service, and food businesses. The main reasons for low income were cited as high rents, intensified competition, burdensome franchise headquarters and delivery platform fees, and the economic downturn, each contributing independently.

Assemblyman Kim stated, "The fact that over 1 million sole proprietorships recorded zero income is a warning sign of the collapse of self-employment, which is the backbone of our economy," and urged, "The government must prepare practical measures to protect the survival of self-employed business owners and provide prompt support."