Lower-income Households Have More Estranged Family Relationships in COVID-19 Era

A 90-year-old patient (R) of Gangnam Medical Treatment Hospital in Gwangju, southwestern South Korea, meets with her daughter through a transparent barrier on March 9, 2021. (Yonhap)

DAEJEON, Jan. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent analysis showed that lower-income households have more estranged family relationships in the COVID-19 pandemic era.

According to data from Statistics Korea analyzed by the Daejeon Gender Equality and Family Policy Center, among the households with a monthly income of less than 1 million won (US$840), 23.4 percent said that their family relationships became more estranged after the pandemic, while the share of those who said that their family relationships became closer stood at a mere 6.6 percent.

In contrast, among households with a monthly income of more than 6 million won, 20 percent said that their family relationships became closer, with the share of those who said their family relationships became more estranged estimated at only 7.4 percent.

The higher-income households worked from home more than their low-income counterparts, while having a higher level of satisfaction.

Among the households with a monthly income of more than 6 million won, the share of those who said they had worked from home during the pandemic stood at 29.9 percent, 24.3 percentage points higher than the 5.6 percent reported for those with a monthly income of less than 1 million won.

The share of those who said working from home was inefficient stood at 56.7 percent for the households with a monthly income of less than 1 million won, the highest among all income brackets, while the same share for households with a monthly income of more than 6 million won stood at only 48.5 percent.

By gender, 14 percent of men said family relationships had become closer, higher than the 13.2 percent who said family relationships became estranged.

As for women, 12 percent said family relationships became estranged, higher than the 11.7 percent who said family relationships became closer.

Among those in the Daejeon region who said they had worked from home, 50 percent of men and 35 percent of women said that working from home was not efficient, citing the difficulty in handling work, the difficulty in carrying out housework and child-rearing at the same time, and the difficulty in communicating with other workers.

J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)