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S. Korea's income inequality deepens between regular, irregular workers

Xinhua, May 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Income inequality in South Korea deepened between regular and irregular workers in the first quarter due to slower salary growth of temporary workers, statistics office data showed Thursday.

The monthly average pay among regular workers was 2,713,000 won (2,450 U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

Salary for those employed on an irregular basis averaged 1,467, 000 won during the January-March period, up 0.5 percent from the same period of last year.

The number of irregular workers increased 1.7 percent, or 101, 000, from a year earlier to 6,012,000 in March.

The ratio of temporary workers to total paid workers was 32 percent in March, down 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier. The ratio continued to fall after peaking at 36.7 percent in 2007.

College graduates rushed to the part-time job market amid severe hardships in finding full-time jobs, contributing to the widened income inequality.

According to a survey of the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, more than two thirds of college graduates, who failed to find jobs, experienced an average of 2.7 part-time jobs for more than a year.

Those in their late 20s sought part-time jobs as they failed to land regular jobs. Those in their early 30s worked on a part-time basis to earn money for their daily livelihood.

The country's youth jobless rate among those aged 15-29 topped 10 percent in April, and the rate is expected to rise further as companies would refrain from hiring youths due to an extension of retirement age. Endi