The number of companies operating in South Korea increased 6.2 percent on-year
in 2011, mostly driven by a boost in business activities in the manufacturing,
publishing and communications industries, a report showed Thursday.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, companies with more than 50
full-time employees or over 300 million won (US$276,243) of capital totaled
11,733 as of the end of last year, up from the previous year's 11,045.
Companies in the manufacturing sector came to 5,827, up 7.7 percent or 418 from
a year earlier and those in the publishing, image and communications sector saw
their number jump 22 percent or 190 over the same period to 1,055.
The
number of companies operating in the construction sector, however, declined 13.3
percent on-year to 591, affected by the prolonged housing market slump, the
report showed.
Workers employed in those companies stood at a combined
3.96 million last year, up 247,000 from a year earlier. Of them, full-time
employees numbered 3.48 million, according to the report.
Excluding
companies in the financial and insurance sectors, their combined annual sales
came to 2,103 trillion won last year, up 12.1 percent from a year earlier. The
companies' sales averaged 183.4 billion won, a 5.4 percent rise from
2010.
The report also showed that 27.3 percent of those companies
surveyed were running their businesses overseas, with 4.8 percent planning to
advance to foreign markets in the near future. In addition, nearly 40 percent
owned subsidiaries either at home or abroad.
Meanwhile, businesses'
investment in research and development (R&D) grew at a fast pace, the report
noted.
R&D investment by the companies surveyed totaled 35.4
trillion won, up 12.5 percent from a year earlier. In particular, the average
investment by manufacturers rose 10.3 percent on-year to 7.6 billion won in
2011.
The increase came mostly from investment in research and
development on electronic parts and oil refinery areas, the report
explained.