The number of self-employed workers in South Korea fell to its lowest level in 20 years in the first half of the year, in the wake of a protracted economic slowdown.

The outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome between May and June, which seriously damaged consumer sentiment, is estimated to have fueled the shutdown of more self-employed individuals.

According to Statistics Korea, the number of self-employed people who have no employees stood at 3.975 million as of June 2015, down 107,000 from 4.082 million a year earlier.

This is the lowest in 20 years since the figure marked 3.971 million as of June 1995. Though the number of self-employed workers stayed above 4 million at the end of each year since 1994, there is a high possibility that it could fall below 4 million this year, an official of the state statistical office predicted.

Data showed that the MERS virus’ impact on private consumption was greater than the weak consumption after the Sewol ferry disaster in April 2014. The 3.7 percent decrease in consumption in June exceeded the 0.8 percent drop right after the sinking.

In contrast, Statistics Korea said the number of small business owners who have several employees increased to 1.595 million in the first half, compared to 1.53 million in the same period last year.

But the overall number of self-employed people plus small business owners has fallen due to the sharp decline of the former.

The ratio of self-hired individuals -- whether they have employees or not -- to the nation’s total employed fell to a record low of 21.7 percent as of June (5.57 million of 25.68 million), down from 22.1 percent a year before.

Following the wave of micro business closures, economic policymakers are considering curbing the excessive competition by offering comprehensive information on business districts across the country later this year.

While the density information is currently provided for owners of two items -- fried chicken outlets and convenience stores -- it will be expanded to owners of 10 items including coffee shops, beauty parlors and cellphone shops.

Experts say that more self-employed businesspeople are closing than launching businesses in heavily saturated sectors such as retail, restaurants and lodging as they failed to reach a break-even point in a certain period or faced snowballing debt.

“The self-employed need more education and financial support before starting businesses,” said a researcher from KB Financial Group.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)