Date
2012.12.28
South Korea's service industry grew 8.3 percent on-year in 2011 with sharp gains seen in the wholesale and retail industries as well as welfare-related services, a government report showed Friday.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, sales for the country's service industry reached 1,396 trillion won (US$1.3 trillion) last year with the number of businesses expanding 3.4 percent from the previous year to 2.49 million.
Total number of workers in the service industry also climbed 3.1 percent from the year before to 9.38 million employees, the report added.
South Korea's service industry has been growing fast, with sales expanding at an annual average rate of 8.6 percent from 2001 to 2011, according to the report. Sales per business surged 85.1 percent in the 10-year period.
The size of the companies has also expanded steadily in the same period, as the growth rate in the number of workers outpaced that of the number of businesses by nearly two-fold.
The wholesale and retail industries saw the highest sales gain in 2011 with 10.5 percent, the report showed. Welfare and medical-related services came next at 9.3 percent, followed by hotels and restaurants at 8.2 percent.
Convenience store chains grew the most in terms of the number of businesses across the nation, as the figure jumped 22.1 percent on-year to 21,879 stores, the report noted.
Meanwhile, the country's legal service sector continued to suffer from stagnant growth as the rise in the number of lawyers hurt earnings, according to the report.