网络平台增长对区域个体工商户的影响及政策途径

July17, 2025 Impactsof Online Platforms’Growth onRegionalSelf-employed Businessesand Policy Approaches JungHeewanEconomist,RegionalEconomicResearchTeam,ResearchDepartment, Bank ofKoreaTel: 02-759-4077hwj@bok.or.krChungMinsuHead ofRegional EconomicResearch Team,ResearchDepartment, Bank of KoreaTel: 02-759-4156cmins@bok.or.krKangBominJunior Economist,RegionalEconomicResearch Team,Research Department, Bankof KoreaTel: 02-759-4158bmkang@bok.or.krLeeYounghoEconomist,EmploymentTrends Team,ResearchDepartment, Bank of KoreaTel: 02-759-4205leeyh@bok.or.krAhnJeeminJunior Economist,RegionalEconomic ResearchTeam,Research Department, Bankof KoreaTel: 02-759-4130jiminy128@bok.or.kr 1.[Research Background]Business conditions in Korea’s self-employment sector are significantlydeteriorating. This decline is mainly attributable to the rapid growth of online platforms,coupled with economic factors such as sluggish domestic demand. While online platforms havebrought significant benefits to consumers by facilitating seamlessdemand-supply connectionand cutting down information costs, they are also believed to have widened the gap betweenself-employed individuals who can utilize such platforms and those who cannot. This paperanalyzes the polarization of the self-employment sector led by thegrowthof online platformsand suggests policy directions to address the disparity. 2.[Polarization in the Self-employment Sector]To identify how online platforms have drivenstructural shifts in the self-employment sector, this paper analyzes the effects of the platformsprimarily on retail and food service industries, which have higher proportions of self-employedbusinesses. (1)E-commerce platform(retail industry):The effects of the rise of e-commerce platforms varybyregion, business, and industry.Firstly, in terms of regional trends,thegrowthof non-store retailers(such as distance sellers)propelled by online shopping is concentrated in theSeoul metropolitan area, whilethe decline in traditional,in-store retailers in non-Seoulmetropolitan areashas become more prevalent, thereby widening the regional disparity. While growth was relatively favorable forthosethat operateboth online and offline saleschannels ordiversifiedtheir product portfolio,as well aslargebusinesses with resources andbrandrecognition,those without such advantages faced steeper declines in businessconditions.(For example, when the share of online shopping within a region increased by 1 percentage point, thegrowthgap between self-employed businesses in the top and bottom20 percent bysalesgrew by 5.1 percentage points in the Seoul metropolitan area and by7.2 percentage points in non-Seoul metropolitan areas.) Moreover, the growth of online retail platforms hasincreased the number of jobs in thecourierserviceindustry and demand for time-intensive services, such asleisureand sportsactivities, while negatively impactingthecommercial real estaterentalindustrywith highervacancy ratesof commercial buildings. (2)Fooddeliveryplatforms(foodserviceindustry):Theriseofonlineplatformshaspolarized thefoodservice industry to the advantage of large restaurants—a trend that was morepronouncedinnon-Seoul metropolitan areas.(With each 10-percentage-point increase intheregionalshare ofdeliveryplatforms, the growth gap between topand bottom20percentofrestaurantsin terms of saleswidenedby3.2percentage pointsintheSeoul metropolitanarea and6.3percentage pointsinnon-Seoul metropolitan areas.)The performanceoflong-establishedor delivery-basedrestaurantshas alsodivergedconsiderablyfromrestaurantswithouttheseadvantages. 3.[EffectsofFinancialSupport forSelf-employed Businesses]In light ofdeterioratingbusinessconditions due tothe COVID-19 pandemic,oversaturation of the self-employment sector, andtheriseof online platforms,the government expanded itsfinancial support forself-employedbusinesses. The analysisofrecipientbusinesses’performanceonan individual levelshowsthatthe financial supportimprovesthe sales by 8.8percenton averageand reducestheprobabilityof business closureby 1.6percentage points.Atthe regional level, the financial supportismoreeffective innon-Seoul metropolitan areas that face more serious deterioration in businessconditions. However,the benefits of the financial support are concentrated in certain groups ofbusinesses,such asthose that arenewly established,led byyoungentrepreneurs, and smallerin scale,whileother groupsexperiencelittle effect.Small-scalesupport(less than KRW 20million)orlong-termsupport also hasnegligible effects.Theanalysisalso suggeststhatfinancial supportfor businesses with very low productivity and declining sales createsnegative externalities,namelycausing inefficientresource allocationand stuntingthe growthofother businesses. Nevertheless,the share of financial supportwas actually found to have increased during theanalysis periodforthegroupsof self-employed businesses seeing relatively littlebenefitfrom the supportandsuffering fromlow productivity. 4.[Policy Rec