Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Majority of top income earners work in Seoul metropolitan area
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By Anna J. Park
Top 1% of earners average 320 million won per year
Recent data shows that eight out of 10 high-income earners in Korea ― in the top 1 percent ― have jobs in the Seoul metropolitan area, including the city of Incheon and the province of Gyeonggi .
According to Rep. Kim Hoi-jae from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Monday, the top 1 percent of income earners numbered 199,591 in 2021, and they earned at least 320 million won ($236,581) on average that year. The wage earners' data was submitted by the National Tax Service to the lawmaker.
As 77.1 percent of the top 1 percent of wage earners work in the capital region, it points to the need to solve the imbalance of quality jobs between regions in the country.
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Among 17 municipalities across the country, Seoul had the largest number of the top 1 percent of income earners with 88,885 (44.5 percent), followed by Gyeonggi Province with 59,460 (29.8 percent) and Busan with 7,656 (3.8 percent). When excluding the administrative city of Sejong, Jeju Island has the fewest high-income earners, numbering only 1,146.
When calculated as the number of the top 1 percent of income earners per 100,000 people, Seoul has the highest number with 938, followed by Gyeonggi Province at 436, Ulsan at 263, Busan at 230 and Daejeon at 205.
Gangwon Province (114 people), North Jeolla Province (121 people), Sejong City (126 people) and South Jeolla Province (149 people) had fewer high-income workers compared to their populations.
Presenting the data, the lawmaker emphasized that the future of the country cannot be bright if it fails to achieve more balanced national development.
"The government should offer policy support to create quality jobs in diverse regions, while it should also push forward measures to improve the living conditions of young people working at companies," Rep. Kim said.