Quantitative examination of the Korean Textile Complex

통계자료에 의한 섬유산업의 이해

The main purpose of this study was to examine the sectors of Korean textile complex based on various economic characteristics and performances. The sectors in the textile complex differed in many aspects. Man-made fiber industry showed capital-intensive characteristics even though most of the sectors in the textile complex were labor-intensive. Textile industry is composed of weaving and spinning, knitting, dyeing and finishing sectors and even within the textile industry, each sector had different characteristics from each others. Weaving and spinning sector seemed to require relatively high capital investment, while dyeing and finishing was very labor-intensive. Labor-intensive apparel industry has faced decrease in labor-productivity while wage has increased. Slow growth in labor productivity in Korean textile complex was shown to be a more problem than increase in wage or ratio of labor cost to value added. Apparel companies appeared to be in better financial states than the textile companies, even though the exports of apparel products have decreased in the 1990s. However, in overall the financial states of the Korean textile complex were not as strong as those of the other manufacturing sectors.