Although the government has invested more than 5 trillion won in budget for six years from 2015 to enhance the competitiveness of aging industrial complexes, it is counted that the total production and exports of industrial complexes nationwide continue to decline sharply. Last year, with the aftermath of the Corona 19 incident, the scale of exports to industrial complexes nationwide plummeted to the lowest level in 11 years since the global financial crisis in 2009.
According to the National Balanced Development Center on the 3rd, the government spent 3.4 trillion won on industrial complex-related budgets from 2015 to 2019, such as industrial complex innovation, reorganization of old industrial complexes, industry-university convergence district creation, and urban high-tech complex support. Since last year, with the goal of growing the industrial complex as a regional economic innovation base through smartization of industrial complexes, the related budget has been expanded to a scale of 1 trillion won per year, intensively putting more than 5 trillion won in the industrial complex over the past six years. In this way, the size of the industrial complex itself has grown as a result of the investment of trillions of won. According to the National Statistical Office, as of the third quarter of last year, there were 1225, an increase of 101 from 2015 (1124). The number of general industrial complexes designated by the mayor and provincial governor increased to 79, followed by 11 high-tech urban complexes, 6 national industrial complexes, and 5 agricultural and industrial complexes. During the same period, the number of tenant companies increased by about 20,000, increasing to 10,5853, and the number of employees alone reached 2.19 million.
Although the appearance has grown like this, when looking at the performance of the industrial complex, the reality is that it is close to’the inner bin Gangjeong’. National industrial complex production and exports peaked at 1066 trillion won and 4223 billion dollars, respectively, in 2017, and have not escaped from the downtrend. As of the third quarter of last year, the national industrial complex production and exports amounted to KRW 696 trillion and USD 241.9 billion, respectively. In particular, exports are expected to shrink by more than 20%. Regarding the deterioration of industrial complexes despite the full government support, Lee Won-bin, a senior researcher at the Center for Balanced National Development, said, “Even though the foundation conditions for reinforcing industrial competitiveness and innovation such as technological changes such as the 4th Industrial Revolution and the spread of open innovation are rapidly changing The budget support policy for industrial complexes in Korea has not deviated significantly from the past, and maintains a pattern of’quantitative expansion centers’. There is no change.” Although the government’s budgetary support continues, it is diagnosed that the trend of obsolescence and small size, which consumes the competitiveness of industrial complexes, still remains. The Banwol City Volcanic Industrial Complex, one of the representative industrial complexes in Korea, has been driving regional economic growth by taking responsibility for more than 50% of the gross domestic product since its establishment in 1978. However, since the 2000s, its external competitiveness has rapidly weakened due to productivity declines.
In particular, the aging of the workforce is more serious than other industrial complexes. According to the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation, the proportion of young workers (ages 15-34) in the Banwol-si Volcanic Industrial Complex is 12.6%. This is significantly lower than the national average (15.1%), as well as Seoul (22.1%) and Incheon Bupyeong (14.1%). This is because young people are turning away because the industrial complex is focused on production functions only, and the infrastructure is not properly equipped.
The small size of enterprises in industrial complexes is also a problem. According to the Ansan Environmental Foundation, the proportion of renters in the Banwol-si Volcanic Industrial Complex increased significantly from 40% in 2008 to 65.6% in 2017. Recently, many companies are reluctant to move into industrial complexes. This is because the new industrial complex is located on the outskirts of the city, making it difficult to find people, and compared to individual complexes, there are difficult conditions of use such as the inability to lease business.
Senior Researcher Lee Won-bin said, “The number of factories closed and closed in the industrial complex has increased significantly in the last three years due to the stagnation of the main industries, which are major industries in the industrial complex, and the relocation of factories abroad.” It is necessary to switch to support for expanding the supply of urban industrial locations such as complexes and knowledge industry centers.”
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