Richest earn 1,000 times more than bottom 10%

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Richest earn 1,000 times more than bottom 10%

The country’s richest people earned nearly 1,000 times more than the lowest income bracket last year, a government report showed on Sunday.

The average earned income of the top 0.1 percent reached 660 million won ($590,000) per person last year, according to the report submitted by the National Tax Service to the National Assembly.

Their combined annual income of 11.7 trillion won accounted for 2.66 percent of the country’s total earned income of 440 trillion won.

The upper 1 percent earned an average 227 million won per person, with their total earnings of 40.3 trillion won taking up 9.15 percent of overall income.

The total earnings of those in the top 10 percent reached 165.8 trillion won, marking 37.69 percent. Their income per capita was 93 million won.

On the other hand, those in the bottom 10 percent earned an average 690,000 won last year, and their overall income of 1.2 trillion won accounted for 0.28 percent. As a result, the top 0.1 percent earned about 1,000 times more than those in the bottom 10 percent.

The income difference between people in the top 10 percent and the bottom 10 percent was nearly 135 times.

When comparing composite income, which includes earned income, income from rent and financial profit, the gap widens further.

The top 0.1 percent reported 2.59 billion won per person last year, with their combined composite income accounting for 8.63 percent.

But the bottom 10 percent saw their composite income reach 1.93 million won per person, and the percentage was 0.64 percent.

The latest report is in line with second-quarter government statistics showing the wealth gap between the haves and have-nots reaching its highest level in a decade.

The current administration, which champions so-called income-led, or consumption-driven, economic growth, has been rolling out measures to help ease the country’s widening income disparity.

For its 2019 budget, the Moon Jae-in administration proposed 470.5 trillion won in spending, the largest annual increase in a decade, to boost job creation and reduce income inequality.


Yonhap
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