Microbusiness owners predicted they will face management difficulties this year due to weak domestic demand.
The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME) on the 13th released the "2026 microbusiness owners' New Year management survey results." The survey was conducted online for eight days from Dec. 30 to Jan. 6 last year, targeting a total of 1,073 microbusiness owners nationwide working in food and lodging, wholesale and retail, and personal services.
In the results, 42.7% of microbusiness owners said this year's business environment will "deteriorate." "Severely deteriorate" was 16.5%, "somewhat deteriorate" 26.2%, "stay at the current level" 29.7%, "somewhat improve" 22.1%, and "significantly improve" 5.5%.
By industry, the outlook for deterioration was highest in wholesale and retail at 45.8%. Among enterprises operating for seven years or more, it was also 46.9%.
For the cost items expected to be the most burdensome this year (multiple responses), "financing expense" was 48.7%, followed by "labor cost" 38.1%, "raw and subsidiary materials cost" 36.7%, and "rent" 33.5%.
In hiring plans, "stay at the current level" was highest at 57.3%, and in the outlook for funding conditions, "difficulty" (somewhat difficult 43.0% + very difficult 26.1%) was tallied at 69.1%.
As the main reasons for the sluggish business environment (multiple responses), "reduced consumption due to weak domestic demand (economic downturn and high inflation, etc.)" showed the highest response rate at 77.4%. It was followed by "burden of financing expense due to interest rate hikes and increased liability" 33.4%, "rise in raw and subsidiary materials and ingredient costs" 28.3%, and "burden of labor cost and difficulty securing workers" 26.4%.
The average monthly operating profit of microbusiness owners was highest at "1 million won or more to less than 2 million won" at 20.5%. "0 won or more to less than 1 million won" was 17.9%, followed by "2 million won or more to less than 3 million won" at 17.1%. The share with an average monthly operating profit of less than 3 million won (including less than 0 won) was found to be 58.2%.
As the factor with the greatest impact on management this year, they cited "domestic demand slump due to low growth" (77.7%). Higher consumer prices due to exchange rates and higher import prices (36.7%) and the minimum wage increase (31.9%) were also cited as reasons for management burdens on microbusiness owners.
As needed policy support, "financial support" was highest at 71.9%, with "tax support" at 39.0% and "marketing and sales channel support" at 22.9% also mentioned.
Song Chi-young, president of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME), said, "A majority of microbusiness owners, 53.3%, responded that last year's management performance was 'poor,' and average monthly profits were also shown to have decreased, indicating that the sentiment among microbusiness owners has long since passed its limit," adding, "It is time to roll out measures to boost domestic demand through financial support measures that microbusiness owners can feel, as well as tax and marketing support."