Korea, South - Industry

The industrial sector, including mining, manufacturing, and construction, has been growing in South Korea since the 1960s. Its share of GDP has remained around 43 percent since 1995. The sector contracted by 6.1 percent in 1998 as a result of the 1997 financial crisis, but it expanded by 11 percent in 1999 when the South Korean economy began to recover. Despite its significant expansion, the overall economic growth pushed its share of GDP a little lower than 1998. In 1999, it accounted for about 25.61 percent (4,026,000 workers) of the work-force, a decrease from 1995 when it accounted for about 23 percent (4,824,000).