As income polarization deepens, labor earnings for low-income households declined last year for the first time in five years.

According to data released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on Sunday, the average labor income for households in the bottom 20 percent stood at four-point-01 million won or 28-hundred dollars in 2024, down one-point-three percent from a year earlier.

It marked the first decline in labor income among low-income households since 2019.

The decline is attributed to the overall economic downturn and worsening employment conditions for temporary workers and day laborers, who account for many of the country’s low-income earners.

Meanwhile, households in the top 20 percent earned an average of 120-point-06 million won or 68-thousand dollars last year, a three-point-seven percent increase from the previous year. 

People in the highest income bracket made roughly thirty times as much as their counterparts in the lowest income bracket last year.