Itaewon in the central Seoul ward of Yongsan is relatively empty on May 16, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study showed that self-employed individuals operating their own business as the head of a household make less income than the labor income earned by household members, likely due to a severe slump in the market for self-employed work.
The research center under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country’s two umbrella labor organizations, reported Wednesday that the current income made by self-employed heads of households increased by 30 percent, from 49.9 million won (US$42,030) in 2012 to 65.19 million won in 2020.
Sorted by the source of income, the household’s income made by the self-employed rose by 6.3 percent from 39.3 million won in 2012 to 41.7 million won in 2020, while income through labor jumped by 104.3 percent from 6.6 million won to 13.5 million won.
“Due to severe downturn in the self-employed industry, household members are jumping into the labor market for additional income,” the institute said.
The research center reported that the income gap based on the household head’s gender and the type of work has widened in the last 10 years.
The current income made by full-time employed household heads rose by 62.4 percent from 49 million won in 2010 to 79.6 million won in 2020, while part-time employed household heads saw income rise by 61.1 percent from 22.9 million won to 37 million won, resulting in a widening income gap from 26 million won to 42.5 million won.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
