By Nam Hyun-woo
Poverty seems to become a real threat for some Koreans, especially the very young and very old. Presidential candidates have gotten wind of this and have released pledges to deal with poverty in those age groups ahead of the presidential election today.
According to Statistics Korea on Monday, the poverty gap on the disposable income of those in their 20s rose to 30.5 percent last year from 26.6 percent in 2015.
The poverty gap shows how many people's incomes fall below the poverty line, or the minimum level of income deemed adequate to live decently in the country. It is half of the median household income of the total population. A higher poverty gap means more people lag behind in terms of disposable income.
Senior citizens also falter due to the lack of income. According to the statistics agency, the poverty rate for those aged 65 or above reached 61.7 percent in 2015, the highest since 2011. Last year's data will be released later this year.
The poverty rate refers to the ratio of people in a given age group whose income falls below the poverty line.
Against this backdrop, presidential candidates are releasing pledges focusing on the poverty issues in the two age groups. For poverty in the younger generations, the candidates saw the country's soaring youth unemployment rate as the top agenda.
At the end of last year, Korea's unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent, while that of those aged between 15 and 29 was a record high of 9.8 percent.
Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea has pledged to create 810,000 jobs including 174,000 in the civil service. Moon also said his administration will encourage more businesses to hire employees so up to 500,000 jobs could be created by reducing working hours to 52 hours a week.
For youth employment, Moon pledged to expand a quota system of youth employment for public and private companies and offer state benefits to young jobseekers.
Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party pledged to create 1.1 million jobs through nurturing innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party is taking a stance that job creation should be spearheaded by the private sector. He promised that the government will guarantee young people hired by SMEs will receive around 80 percent of the salary for workers at big businesses, by providing 6 million won a year per person.
Yoo Seong-min of the conservative Bareun Party is taking a liberal stance in his jobs pledge, saying he will limit the number of irregular workers at big companies and provide financial and policy support for startups.
Sim Sang-jung of the progressive Justice Party said she will distribute some part of the government's revenues from inheritance and capital transfer taxes to support those aged between 20 and 25.
All leading candidates made similar pledges to address the poverty of the elderly, saying they will increase the monthly basic pension given to those older than 65 and in the lower 70 percent income bracket from 200,000 won ($176.7) to 300,000 won.
Moon said he will raise the amount to 250,000 won next year and increase it to 300,000 won in 2021. Hong said he will meet the 300,000 won target in 2022.
Ahn and Yoo said they will expand the beneficiaries from the current lower 70 percent in income to the lower 50 percent and raise the amount to a maximum of 300,000 won. Sim said she will provide 300,000 won every month regardless of their income level.
Poverty seems to become a real threat for some Koreans, especially the very young and very old. Presidential candidates have gotten wind of this and have released pledges to deal with poverty in those age groups ahead of the presidential election today.
According to Statistics Korea on Monday, the poverty gap on the disposable income of those in their 20s rose to 30.5 percent last year from 26.6 percent in 2015.
The poverty gap shows how many people's incomes fall below the poverty line, or the minimum level of income deemed adequate to live decently in the country. It is half of the median household income of the total population. A higher poverty gap means more people lag behind in terms of disposable income.
Senior citizens also falter due to the lack of income. According to the statistics agency, the poverty rate for those aged 65 or above reached 61.7 percent in 2015, the highest since 2011. Last year's data will be released later this year.
The poverty rate refers to the ratio of people in a given age group whose income falls below the poverty line.
Against this backdrop, presidential candidates are releasing pledges focusing on the poverty issues in the two age groups. For poverty in the younger generations, the candidates saw the country's soaring youth unemployment rate as the top agenda.
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At the end of last year, Korea's unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent, while that of those aged between 15 and 29 was a record high of 9.8 percent.
Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea has pledged to create 810,000 jobs including 174,000 in the civil service. Moon also said his administration will encourage more businesses to hire employees so up to 500,000 jobs could be created by reducing working hours to 52 hours a week.
For youth employment, Moon pledged to expand a quota system of youth employment for public and private companies and offer state benefits to young jobseekers.
Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party pledged to create 1.1 million jobs through nurturing innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party is taking a stance that job creation should be spearheaded by the private sector. He promised that the government will guarantee young people hired by SMEs will receive around 80 percent of the salary for workers at big businesses, by providing 6 million won a year per person.
Yoo Seong-min of the conservative Bareun Party is taking a liberal stance in his jobs pledge, saying he will limit the number of irregular workers at big companies and provide financial and policy support for startups.
Sim Sang-jung of the progressive Justice Party said she will distribute some part of the government's revenues from inheritance and capital transfer taxes to support those aged between 20 and 25.
All leading candidates made similar pledges to address the poverty of the elderly, saying they will increase the monthly basic pension given to those older than 65 and in the lower 70 percent income bracket from 200,000 won ($176.7) to 300,000 won.
Moon said he will raise the amount to 250,000 won next year and increase it to 300,000 won in 2021. Hong said he will meet the 300,000 won target in 2022.
Ahn and Yoo said they will expand the beneficiaries from the current lower 70 percent in income to the lower 50 percent and raise the amount to a maximum of 300,000 won. Sim said she will provide 300,000 won every month regardless of their income level.
