Exports of semiconductors, along with computers, electronics, and optical devices, have significantly increased, leading to a larger share of exports in the overall demand of the South Korean economy. The growing contribution of exports to production, value-added, and employment has further solidified the export-driven economic structure.
According to the '2024 Input-Output Table (Extended Table)' released by the Bank of Korea on September 21, the total supply of goods and services in the South Korean economy is projected to reach 711.36 trillion won in 2024, a 4.6% increase from 680.27 trillion won the previous year. Total supply matches total demand, with the output share remaining stable at 85.0% and imports at 15.0%.
However, changes are evident on the demand side. The share of intermediate demand decreased from 50.0% in 2023 to 49.3% last year, while the share of domestic final demand, including consumption and investment, fell from 35.3% to 34.6%. In contrast, the export share rose from 14.7% to 16.1%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points.
Notably, the substantial rise in semiconductor exports has driven this increase in export share. The proportion of final demand attributed to exports also grew from 29.4% to 31.8%, a 2.4 percentage point increase. The export rate, representing the share of exports in total output, also rose from 17.3% to 19.0%.
The share of external transactions, combining exports and imports, has also expanded. The proportion of external transactions in total supply increased from 29.6% in 2023 to 31.1% last year, reflecting a growing role of external demand in the domestic economy.
The economic ripple effects of exports have also intensified. The share of production triggered directly and indirectly by exports within final demand rose from 32.7% to 35.1%. During the same period, the share of value-added generated by exports increased from 25.4% to 28.2%, and the share of employment attributed to exports rose from 20.7% to 22.2%.
Conversely, the shares of production, value-added, and employment triggered by consumption and investment have all decreased. The proportion of total employment generated by exports increased by 1.5 percentage points over the year, while consumption's share fell from 58.4% to 57.7%, and investment's share dropped from 20.9% to 20.1%.
Despite the increase in employment generated by exports, its impact remains lower than that of consumption or investment. For every 1 billion won in final demand, the employment generation coefficients are 9.7 for consumption, 7.9 for investment, and 5.0 for exports.
The manufacturing sector's influence has also grown within the industrial structure. The share of manufactured goods in total value-added increased from 25.0% to 26.0%, while the service sector's share decreased from 65.4% to 64.1%.
The overall value-added rate in the economy has risen for two consecutive years, from 40.1% in 2022 to 41.2% in 2023, and further to 42.0% last year. This increase is attributed to the growth in operating surplus of exported manufactured goods. The dependency on imports has continued to decline, falling from 14.9% to 13.6% and then to 13.3%, influenced by decreasing prices of imported raw materials.
Meanwhile, the share of services used as intermediate goods has consistently increased, rising from 33.0% in 2022 to 35.4% in 2023, and reaching 36.4% last year. This trend reflects a growing utilization of producer services, including wholesale and retail, transportation, information and communication, finance and insurance, real estate, and professional, scientific, and technical services.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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