Top 10% earn over 10 mil. won monthly

By Kang Seung-woo

Staff reporter

For the first time, the average monthly earnings of the top 10 percent in the income bracket surpassed 10 million won ($8,800) in the first quarter, raising the possibility that the global financial crisis has been worsening the income polarization between the rich and the poor, Statistics Korea said Tuesday.

The statistics agency said that the households in the upper 10 percent earned 10.15 million won on average in the first three months of this year, up 2.54 million won or 33.5 percent from 7.6 million won in the first quarter of 2005.

This is in stark contrast to the bottom 10 percent of households that witnessed their average monthly income rise by just 170,000 won to 581,000 won during the same period.

"The imbalance of income distribution usually hits the highest mark in the first quarter partly due to the lunar new year bonus," said an official of Statistics Korea.

When it comes to the growth rate, the low-income households tallied 8.1 percent higher than the high incomers, but the latter marked a 2.37 million won hike.

The income disparity has expanded since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis as poorer households faced a harder time making ends meet amid slow income growth on a sluggish job market and the rising costs of goods and services.

But the rich have become richer as they have been able to accumulate more wealth by investing in undervalued stocks and real estate.

Given that the average monthly income of all households rose by 28.2 percent to 3.73 million won from 2.90 million won during the same period, the top 10 percent have actually led the nation's growth in total earnings.

The income for the top 10 percent was 2.72 times the average for all households, compared to 2.57 in the first quarter of 2003. It was the highest figure since the statistics agency began compiling related data.

The figure has been following an upward trend. It stood at 2.52 in 2004, 2.61 in 2005, 2.55 in 2006, 2.66 in 2008 and 2.68 in 2009.