Top 0.1% Self-Employed in Seoul Earn 2.6 Billion KRW Annually... Extreme Income Gap Between Top and Bottom

Assemblywoman Yang Kyung-sook, Analysis of National Tax Service Data
Income Gap Between Top and Bottom 20% in Seoul is 149 Times

Among those who reported business income as self-employed individuals in Seoul, the average earnings of the top 0.1% income group exceeded 2.6 billion KRW. Seoul also showed the largest income gap between the top 20% and bottom 20%, with a disparity of 149 times.

On the 24th, Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party, analyzed data received from the National Tax Service. In 2022, there were 1,539,508 people in Seoul who reported business income as part of their comprehensive income tax filings. Among them, the 1,539 individuals in the top 0.1% income bracket earned an average of 2.65275 billion KRW, the highest amount among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces.

Asia Economy DB

Business income refers to the income earned after deducting necessary expenses such as labor costs, material costs, rent, and electricity fees from the total revenue generated by running a business, and is mainly reported by self-employed small business owners. Following Seoul, the second highest business income was in Busan, where the top 0.1% earned an average annual income of 1.9118 billion KRW (411 people). Next were Daegu (1.84595 billion KRW, 291 people) and Gwangju (1.61558 billion KRW, 181 people). The region with the lowest average income for the top 0.1% was Gyeongbuk, where 271 people earned 1.10289 billion KRW, which is 2.4 times less than Seoul. Additionally, Chungbuk (1.11681 billion KRW, 190 people) and Gangwon (1.16087 billion KRW, 178 people) remained at about 40% of Seoul’s level. Nationwide, the average income of the top 0.1% was 1.69116 billion KRW.

The region with the greatest income disparity among self-employed individuals was also Seoul. The average income of the top 20% of self-employed in Seoul was 86.74 million KRW, while the bottom 20% earned only 580,000 KRW, a difference of 148.8 times. Following Seoul, the largest income gaps were found in Sejong (129.2 times), Daegu (108.9 times), and Gwangju (104.4 times). The smallest income gap was in Jeonnam, with a difference of 69.5 times. Gyeongbuk (70.9 times), Chungnam (74.4 times), and Incheon (76.3 times) were also regions with relatively low income disparities. Nationwide, the income gap between the top 20% and bottom 20% was 98.2 times.

Yang Kyung-sook stated, "The self-employed sector also shows severe income polarization, with a clear divide between the rich and the poor." She added, "The government should prepare measures to reduce income disparities in the self-employed sector and focus on revitalizing domestic consumption to support the self-employed."