Income Inequality in South Korea Grows as Company Fortunes Soar | Be Korea-savvy

Income Inequality in South Korea Grows as Company Fortunes Soar


In the last 34 years, the proportion of GNDI (Gross National Disposable Income) composed of company revenue has grown while the share of household income has shrunk, according to data from the Bank of Korea that was submitted to the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee. (Image: Yonhap)

In the last 34 years, the proportion of GNDI (Gross National Disposable Income) composed of company revenue has grown while the share of household income has shrunk, according to data from the Bank of Korea that was submitted to the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee. (Image: Yonhap)

SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire)In the last 34 years, the proportion of GNDI (Gross National Disposable Income) composed of company revenue has grown while the share of household income has shrunk, according to data from the Bank of Korea that was submitted to the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee.

The GNDI is derived from gross national income and is calculated by adding all amounts of incoming transfers of cash or other equivalents from foreign sources and subtracting the total outgoing amounts of transfers of cash or other equivalents.

Assemblyman Shin Ki-joon explained that if the proportion of company revenue in 1982 was set at a base of 100, it would have increased to 179 last year. Concurrently, household income, also hypothetically starting at 100, would have dropped to 81.

Assemblyman Shin Ki-joon explained that if the proportion of company revenue in 1982 was set at a base of 100, it would have increased to 179 last year. Concurrently, household income, also hypothetically starting at 100, would have dropped to 81. (Image: Yonhap)

Assemblyman Shin Ki-joon explained that if the proportion of company revenue in 1982 was set at a base of 100, it would have increased to 179 last year. Concurrently, household income, also hypothetically starting at 100, would have dropped to 81. (Image: Yonhap)

Emphasizing the growing divide between the fortunes of companies and households, Shin said, “As the scale of the economy grew throughout the past 30 years, though companies became rich, households have become poor.”

The market income (pre-tax Gini coefficient) ratios of the income of the top 10 percent in wealth divided by the income of the bottom 10 percent yielded a return of 30.04 for 2016, double that of 2007 (15.15). The higher the market income ratio (utilizing these parameters), the greater the gap between the rich and poor.

The top 1 percent in wealth were also found to have doubled their real estate holdings from an average of 3.2 in 2007 to 6.5 by 2016.

The top 10 percent followed in their footsteps with a slight bump increasing their holdings from an average of 2.3 to 3.2 during the same time period.

 

Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com) 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>