Household income falls 0.8% in second quarter

Customers shop for groceries at a discount mart in southern Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Korea's household income fell 0.8 percent on year in the second quarter of 2023 due to the drop in Covid-19-related subsidies and other state support, and the narrowed income gap between the haves and have-nots, data showed Thursday.

The country's households earned an average of 4.79 million won ($3,600) per month in the April-June period, compared with 4.83 million won tallied a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea.

Profits earned through wages grew 4.9 percent on year to an average of 3.03 million won per month in the second quarter, and the monthly average income from business operations inched up 0.1 percent to 927,000 won.

But transfer income backed by state support dropped 19.6 percent to 718,000 won as the government cut back on pandemic-related compensation and subsidies.

Monthly household spending rose 4.1 percent on year in the second quarter to come to 3.65 million won.

The growth came as people spent more on entertainment and culture, which jumped 14 percent on year. Spending on dining out and accommodations also advanced 6 percent.

But spending on health care and housing goods fell 6.5 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, amid the stabilized virus situation, the data showed.

Households' propensity to consume, measured by the percentage of consumption expenditures out of disposable income, increased 3.8 percentage points on year to 70.2 percent in the second quarter.

The figure hit an all-time low in the second quarter of last year due to high inflation and rising interest rates.