Seoul: Cumulative sales in South Korea's service industry rose 1.8 percent on-year in 2024, driven by the growth of repair and other services, such as funerals and weddings, the statistics agency reported Thursday. Sales in the industry reached 3,181 trillion won (US$2.16 trillion) last year, compared with 3,124 trillion won the previous year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the data compiled by the Ministry of Data and Statistics indicated that the repair and private services sector experienced the largest sales growth, rising by 10 percent on-year. Following closely were the professional, scientific, and technological services sector with a growth of 8.7 percent, and the health care and social welfare services, which increased by 7.1 percent.

The total number of businesses in the service industry saw an increase of 1.9 percent on-year, reaching 4.24 million. Additionally, the industry added 110,000 more jobs from the previous year, bringing the total number of employees to 14.4 million. Sales per company remained unchanged at 750 million won, while per-worker sales increased by 1.1 percent to 220 million won.

In 2024, 22 percent of all businesses in the sector utilized online platforms, such as mobile apps, to attract customers, marking an increase of 1.1 percentage points from the previous year. Nearly 44 percent of the businesses offered delivery services, which represents an increase of 2 percentage points from the prior year. The proportion of businesses using self-service kiosks rose by 0.7 percentage points to 6.7 percent. Notably, it was the first time the user rate of kiosks surpassed 10 percent in the restaurant and bar sector, the agency noted.