Gift-Giving Goes on Inflation Ride
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Among many unspoken guidelines in Korea is the rule of gift-giving. Typically, it's 30,000 won for the colleague down the hall, 50,000 won for that good friend from college and 100,000 won for the hometown pal you knew for decades. But this well-rooted standard seems to be facing inflation of its own.
The National Statistical Office (NSO) said a family of two spent an average of 520,000 won or $520 annually on monetary gifts last year, which is up 19 percent from four years ago. This is a bigger hike compared to the national inflation rate of 11.6 percent during the same period.
Another survey done by online job recruiter Career showed that nearly 60 percent of 1,650 working men and women said they gave a minimum of 50,000 won when attending a wedding or funeral, with the majority saying that the once typical 30,000-won-gift now comes off as too stingy.
What is triggering the inflation, especially during times when people's wallets are getting thinner?
``The economy is tough for everyone, but people know that today's 30,000 won goes less further than it did 10 years ago,'' said Park Hae-sook, CEO of Yaedang Image Making School, adding that the awareness of the money's worth is convincing people to add a little more to their gift.
Kim Ji-sook, a consultant at a Seoul-based events planning firm, said she nowadays advises her clients to expect at least 50,000 won per head in monetary gifts.
``Many guests know that a typical meal at a wedding or child's birthday costs around 30,000 to 50,000 won per person, so they know they should pay, at least, for their food,'' said Kim, who added the trend became more commonplace this year.
However, some raised concerns that the latest changes may add more of a bubble to Korea's monetary gift-giving tradition.
``Oftentimes, these gestures are not simply out of a pure heart, but have a separate agenda,'' said Shin In-suk, an economics professor at ChoongAng University. ``Some try to build relationships and peddle influence by offering a large amount.''
Park of Yedang also said it would be foolish to absentmindedly follow a trend, adding that a significant number of guests often ``pay their dues at the counter'' and leave without staying for the event.
``A guest's wholehearted attendance would probably mean more than any money,'' she said.
The NSO's data indicated that Koreans spent more than 7.5 trillion won on monetary gifts in 2007.