South Korea's entrepreneurial spirit has weakened sharply compared with the 1970s as economic bills are often left in limbo and the establishment of large enterprises have become a lot tougher than in the past, a report showed Wednesday.

The entrepreneurial spirit index fell from 150.9 in 1976 to 66.6 in 2013, slightly higher than 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis, according to the report by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI). 

The KERI, a think tank affiliated with the Federation of Korean Industries conglomerate lobby, evaluates entrepreneurial spirit based on seven factors, including economic participation, trade, R&D activities, bill passage ratio and the number of enterprises.

The KERI said entrepreneurship in the public sector dragged down the index because the ratio of bill passages has tumbled since the 2000s. 

About 1 out of 10 bills were enacted under the current parliament elected in 2012, with the number cut by more than half.

"The National Assembly is blamed for the falling rate of bill passage because lawmakers are mired in politics, failing to fulfill their responsibilities of setting economic rules or revising regulations," said Hwang In-hak, a senior researcher at KERI.

Although the number of businesses per 100,000 population has steadily increased over the past four decades, the ratio of large enterprises has fallen as family-run conglomerates have tightened their grip on Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The competition rate for public jobs has more than tripled since 1977, representing growing preferences for stable jobs amid an economic slowdown. (Yonhap)