한국사회가치연대기금

Key accomplishments of social enterprise promotion policy (2016~2021)

1^st December, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the major accomplishments of social enterprise promotion policy for the past 5 years. The current government set the promotion of the social economy as one of the main government priorities and has been providing various policy and legislative supports for the social economy. 

:: Key achievements

1. Through institutional improvements, since 2016 the number of social enterprises has increased by 83% (as of November 2021, there are 3,142 social enterprises in the operation, of which 60% of employees are socially vulnerable people). 

2. Through various promotion programs, the number of social entrepreneurs (particularly youth entrepreneurs) has increased substantially. Since the launch of the programs in full scale in 2011, there are 15 social enterprise growth support centers nationwide that offer training and consulting services. Also as of 2021, 15 universities offer regular social economy degrees. 

3. Through public procurement based on social values, public institutions have increased social enterprise procurement significantly (from 0.74 trillion KRW in 2016 to 1.62 trillion in 2020). 

:: Challenges

Most government support programs focus on the early stage of social enterprises and many of products and services are not satisfying the diverse needs of the market. In order to overcome the issues, the government ensures that its policy support will offer more tailored programs according to the developmental stages of social enterprises. 

For further details, check out the Ministry of Employment and Labor web-page (in Korean)