The proportion of self-employed people among wage earners came to just above 20 percent in June, which is the lowest in 39 years as the pandemic has led to a slower recovery for the group. 

According to the Korea Small Business Institute and Statistics Korea on Thursday, the self-employed numbered five-point-58 million in June, 20-point-19 percent of all employed people. 

The ratio is the lowest since related statistics have been kept since July 1982. The previous low was 20-point-20 percent in December 2019. 

The small business institute said that a letup in the pandemic led to a jump in the number of salaried workers, but the self-employed weren’t helped by the recovery in employment. 

The number of employed people continuously decreased from March last year, but turned around to an increase from March this year. 

However, the number of self-employed people decreased for 15 months from March last year to May this year and only turned around in June. 

That month, the number of employed people increased two-point-two percent on year, but the number of self-employed rose just point-five percent.