South Korea’s antitrust chief says wealth distribution situation likely to improve
South Korea’s antitrust chief said on Friday that he expects the country’s worsening wealth distribution situation to improve this year, citing an increase in government support for low-income earners.
The comments by Kim Sang-jo, the chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, came in a radio interview a day after new data showed that South Korea’s household income inequality hit a record high in the fourth quarter of 2018, en.yna.co.kr reported.
An average household earned 4.6 million won ($4,000) per month in the October-december period, up 3.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
But the monthly average income of the bottom 20-percent income bracket dropped 17.7 percent on-year to 1.23 million won, due mainly to a sharp decline in employment and an increased number of households with a head aged 70 years or older.
In contrast, households in the upper 20 percent income range earned 9.32 million won a month during the fourth quarter, up 10.4 percent vis-avis the same three-month period in 2017. The hike came as the number of employed people per household in the upper 20 percent income range rose to 2.07 on average in the fourth quarter, compared with 2.02 in the same quarter in 2017.
Meanwhile, the average number of workers per household in the bottom 20 percent income bracket fell to 0.64 in the fourth quarter of 2018 from 0.81 in the same three-month period in 2017.
Consequently, the country’s distribution ratio for disposable income — a key barometer of earnings equality — reached 5.47, the highest level for any fourth quarter since such data began to be compiled in 2003.
Park Sang-young, director of welfare statistics division at Statistics Korea, said people in the upper 20 percent income range saw jobs go up in terms of quality and quantity in the fourth quarter, which led to increased income for them.
Kim said the government would expand ¿nancial support for low-income people this year.
Dual-income families are entitled to receive 3 million won from the government if their combined annual income is less than 36 million won and their assets are worth less than 200 million won.
Single-income families can receive 2.6 million won if they earn less than 30 million won a year.
The government also plans to raise the basic pension for all people aged 65 or older in the bottom 20 percent income bracket by 20 percent to 300,000 won, beginning in April.