Business Income Gap Widens: Top 10% Earn Seven Times Average, Study Shows

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s income inequality among self-employed business owners has reached striking levels, with the top 10% of business income earners making seven times the average income, according to new tax data. 

National Assembly data released on October 27 reveals that the top 10% of business income earners, approximately 847,354 individuals, reported total earnings of 93.6 trillion won in 2022. This translates to an average annual income of 110.49 million won per person, while the top 1% averaged 585.11 million won annually. 

The figures, obtained by Representative Park Sung-hoon of the People Power Party from the National Tax Service, show a stark contrast with the overall average business income of 16.14 million won among all 8.47 million business income earners.

The disparity appears more severe when compared to salary income inequality. The top 10% of salary workers (2.05 million people) reported an average income of 135.09 million won, about 3.2 times the overall average salary income of 42.14 million won. The top 1% of salary workers earned 331.34 million won on average, 7.9 times the mean. 

While the average business income (16.14 million won) is less than half of the average salary income (42.14 million won), the gap reverses dramatically among top earners, with business income significantly exceeding salary income at higher levels. This pattern reflects both the vulnerability of small business owners and the concentration of revenue among top performers in the self-employed sector. 

“Small business owners are struggling with weak domestic demand and household debt burdens, which is exacerbating income distribution inequality,” Park said. He emphasized the urgent need for measures to boost domestic consumption and support small business competitiveness to address the growing income disparity.

M. H. Lee ([email protected]) 

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