Average Korean income breaks 40 million won for first time

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Average Korean income breaks 40 million won for first time

Workers seen at Yeouido, western Seoul, last May [YONAHP]

Workers seen at Yeouido, western Seoul, last May [YONAHP]

 
The average Korean worker made 40.24 million won ($30,414) last year, breaking the 40-million-won mark for the first time, according to Statistics Korea on Wednesday.
 
According to the statistics authority, there were 19,959,000 workers in Korea in 2021, up 2.4 percent from the previous year.
 
The average annual salary was 40.24 million won, 5.1 percent higher than the year before. Workers made 803.21 trillion won in total.
 
By region, workers from Sejong made the largest amount, at 47.20 million won, followed by 46.57 million won in Seoul, 44.83 million won in Ulsan and 41.19 million won in Gyeonggi.
 
Higher-earning laborers increased steeply. There were 1.12 million people who made over 100 million won last year, marking the first year that over a million people made 100 million won or more a year. In 2020, 916,000 people made over 100 million won.
 
A total of 7.04 million workers reported their incomes for the year-end tax adjustments but paid no tax on earned income due to deductions.
 
The number of people who reported general income tax, which includes income from non-salary incomes, was 9.50 million last year, 18.4 percent higher than the previous year. They made a total of 44.6 trillion won, 20.5 percent more than 2020.
 
Around 179,000 people reported financial income, which must be reported for people who make over 20 million won a year from financial assets, which was similar to the year prior.
 
An average person reported 296 million won of financial income. The highest by region was Seoul, at 394 million won, followed by Busan and Daegu, both at 249 million.

BY JEONG JIN-HO [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]
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