Job seekers wait in their seats for interview at a job fair held in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul, on May 14. (Yonhap)
More than a third of South Korea’s working population saw their incomes fall last year, a survey showed Thursday, continuing to showcase the deepening polarization in the job market from the pandemic.
According to a survey of 16,244 workers from 537 occupations by the Korea Employment Information Service conducted from August to November last year, 35.8 percent of the respondents said their overall income or monthly wages fell since the pandemic started in January 2020.
Some 2.9 percent of the respondents saw their incomes rise, while 61.3 percent said they experienced no change in their income.
The proportion of those who saw their incomes fall was greater for higher age groups, outlining that older ones were hit harder than younger counterparts in the job market. More than 50 percent of the respondents in their 60s and above saw their incomes fall, while the rate was at 34.5 percent for those in their 20s.
The loss of income was also greater for those with shorter academic track records, the survey said. Less than 22 percent of respondents with master’s degrees or higher saw their incomes fall, as opposed to 46 percent of those with high school diplomas or lower academic achievements.
The change in income was varied among industries, according to the survey, with those in face-to-face service sector jobs hit the hardest.
All respondents working as food service managers said their income fell since the pandemic started, while 97.1 percent of those working as musical or theater actors reported a loss of income. The rate stood at 96.8 percent for models, 96.8 percent for ship stewards and 96.7 percent for recreational instructors.
More than 60 percent of parcel delivery workers said their income rose since the pandemic started, largely from increased demand for delivery services due to social distancing rules and virus fears. Sixty percent of family medicine doctors was their income rise, and 46.7 percent of quarantine workers said they earned more during the pandemic.
“The amount of influence COVID-19 had on occupations varies depending on the need of face-to-face contact and whether they are considered essential to peoples’ everyday lives,” said Choi Ki-sung, a researcher at the KEIS in a statement.
“Employment security should be pursued through income support and occupational training programs for the working population experiencing work and income losses in a situation where the growth of remote services and the digital transition is accelerating from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
By Ko Jun-tae (
ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)