Top 1% Employees Earning Annual Salary of 320 Million Won... Eight out of Ten Work in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Concentration of Top 1% Earners in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
Support Needed to Create Quality Jobs in Other Regions

About 8 out of 10 workers in the top 1% of earned income have jobs in the Seoul metropolitan area. This indicates that high-quality jobs are concentrated in the metropolitan area, which also reflects the severity of regional imbalance.

According to data on the "Status of Top 1% Earned Income Workers by Metropolitan Autonomous Region" submitted by the National Tax Service to Kim Hoe-jae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of top 1% earned income workers based on 2021 earned income was 199,591. Their total salary amounted to 63.3295 trillion won, with an average salary per person of 317 million won.

Among them, 153,932 people, accounting for 77.1% of the total, worked in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon.

By the 17 metropolitan autonomous regions, Seoul had the highest number of top 1% earned income workers at 88,885 (44.5%). This was followed by Gyeonggi with 59,460 (29.8%) and Busan with 7,656 (3.8%). Excluding Sejong (461), which has regional characteristics, the area with the fewest high-income workers was Jeju (1,146).

Considering population, the number of top 1% earned income workers per 100,000 people was also highest in the metropolitan area. Seoul had the highest number at 938 per 100,000 people, followed by Gyeonggi with 436, Ulsan with 263, Busan with 230, and Daejeon with 205.

On the other hand, Gangwon (114), Jeonbuk (121), Sejong (126), and Jeonnam (149) had relatively fewer high-income workers compared to their populations.

Assemblyman Kim Hoe-jae said, "If we fail to achieve balanced national development, the future of the Republic of Korea cannot be guaranteed," adding, "Along with policy support to create quality jobs in the regions, measures to strengthen the living conditions of young people working in companies should also be promoted."