‘Bleeding competition’ with self-employment increasing by 44% over 4 years… Income decreased by an average of 9.3% per year to 19 million won.

by times news cr

2024-05-07 09:56:42

[‘경제 버팀목’ 자영업이 쓰러진다]

Top 0.1% average income: KRW 1.7 billion per year
The bottom 20% earn 700,000 won, ‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer’.

While the number of self-employed people in the country is steadily increasing, their income appears to be decreasing. Over the past four years, the number has increased by 44% to exceed 7.2 million, but during the same period, the average annual income has decreased by 9.3%, reaching only 19 million won. Even among the self-employed, the decline in income was noticeable, especially among the small-scale self-employed, and the ‘rich get richer while the poor get poorer’ phenomenon worsened.

According to data received from the National Tax Service by Rep. Yang Gyeong-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee, on the 6th, the number of self-employed people in 2022 was calculated to be 7,231,813. It increased by about 44% compared to 2018 (5,021,807 people), and is increasing every year, including 2019 (5,309,000 people), 2020 (5,516,561 people), and 2021 (6,567,601 people). The statistics show the number of people who reported business income among comprehensive income tax filers, and include self-employed people, special workers such as couriers, and platform delivery drivers.

On the other hand, their income appeared to be continuously decreasing. The average annual income of self-employed people fell to the 10 million won range from 21.36 million won in 2018 to 19.52 million won in 2021, and to 19.38 million won in 2022.

This can be interpreted as the result of fierce competition among those who retired early due to the economic recession, flocking to self-employment, which has a relatively low barrier to entry. Kang Seong-jin, a professor of economics at Korea University, explained, “There is still a lot of work force, but as economic growth is rapidly declining, those who retire early have no choice but to choose self-employment.” In addition, it is analyzed that the rapid increase in the number of platform delivery drivers during the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) period also had some influence on the increase in self-employed people.

The gap between the rich and the poor between self-employed people has also increased. The average income of the self-employed, who are in the top 0.1% of income earners, increased by 3.6% from 1,633.08 million won in 2018 to 1,691.16 million won in 2022. On the other hand, the average income of small business owners in the bottom 20% of income fell significantly by 61% from 1.8 million won to 700,000 won during the same period.


Reporter Shin A-hyung abro@donga.com

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2024-05-07 09:56:42

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