Income up 6.2% as job market sees sunny skies

Households’ monthly income grew 6.2 percent on-year during the second quarter thanks to increased jobs and an overall improvement in labor market conditions, a government report showed yesterday.

According to the report by Statistics Korea, households’ monthly income averaged 3.94 million won ($3,480) during the April-June period, up from 3.71 million won a year earlier.

Inflation-adjusted household income also rose 3.7 percent over the same period. Disposable income grew 6.8 percent on-year to 3.22 million won, the report showed.

The income growth stemmed mostly from expanded employment and improved labor market conditions.

“Earned income, which makes up 65.1 percent of household income, rose 7.5 percent, which drove up the overall numbers,” the agency said.

The job market has shown signs of improvement in recent months as companies expand employment despite lingering market uncertainties.

The number of new jobs accelerated to 470,000 in July from 365,000 tallied in the previous month, the agency earlier said.

The jobless rate ticked down to 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent over the same period.

The report showed that business and property-related household earnings also rose 2.5 percent and 32.1 percent on-year during the second quarter, the report showed.

Spending also increased, though the growth slowed from a month earlier.

Consumption expenditure - household spending on services and products - rose 3.6 percent during the second quarter to 2.39 million won, the report showed. Inflation-adjusted spending grew 1.1 percent over the same period.

Spending on health and communications drove the overall increase by 7 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively. Expenditure on clothes and shoes grew 9.3 percent.

But the second-quarter growth slowed from a 5.3 percent gain in the first quarter, the report showed, suggesting that households might be holding up spending in the face of cloudy economic situations.
Yonhap