Status and Analyses of Social Economy in Gimhae-si, South Korea

Social economy has received attention as an inclusive growth model which solves various social problems and at the same time, responds to structural low growth. Especially, it has appeared as an alternative to solve social problems including the high rate of unemployment, job insecurity, and the gap between the rich and the poor as it was selected as one of 100 national agendas for state affairs government projects since the inauguration of the new government. In Korea, people are growing more and more interested in social economy as the legal bases related to social economy including ?the Social Enterprise Promotion Act? in 2007 and ?the Framework Act on cooperatives? in 2012 were prepared. And it has become increasingly important in Gimhae. Gimhae first enacted an ordinance for revitalizing social economy in Gyeongsangsnam-do to do community projects by supporting social enterprises? foundation and development and will first establish a ?social economy support center? in the Yeongnam area. This study tries to analyze the characteristics and support policies of social economy in Gimhae by doing its theory and the general status of its organizations including social enterprises, cooperatives, community-based enterprises, and self-support companies in it. For current social economy of Gimhae, the number of businesses is lower than that of other local governments and it is still at a rudimentary stage despite great efforts to develop it. Therefore, the study tries to provide basic materials of social economy in Gimhae and seek for solutions to develop and revitalize it in the future.