Sometimes when I meet foreigners or watch YouTube videos, I see Korea being described as a country with severe inequality. But that’s completely untrue. (Once, a Spanish friend told me that Koreans work 80 hours a week and felt sorry for us haha. If i work 80hours? I am not human anymore haha)
When people talk about inequality, they usually refer to three main indicators: the income Gini coefficient, the wealth Gini coefficient, and the median income. According to these statistics, Korea’s income Gini coefficient is about the same level as Switzerland or New Zealand, and its wealth Gini coefficient is actually lower than the European average. Also, Korea ranks around 15th in the world in terms of median income, which shows that people in the middle of the income distribution earn relatively well.
Some say that a few large conglomerates take up most of the jobs in Korea, but that’s not true. Statistically, the proportion of people working in companies with more than a few hundred employees is much higher in Europe. It’s also said that the total assets of Korea’s five largest conglomerates amount to 60 percent of the country’s GDP. That part is true. But many people misunderstand this as meaning they hold 60 percent of the nation’s total wealth. In fact, a country’s total wealth is usually several times larger than its GDP — in Korea’s case, it’s about 9.6 times greater. If we used the same logic, a single European financial firm could be larger than or about the same size as France’s entire GDP (which, to be fair, is possible because it’s a financial company).
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Korea has no problems. I just wanted to write this because sometimes Asian countries are portrayed almost like dystopias, as if people are trying to express a sense of pity mixed with moral superiority. For reference, I have friends from many different countries and ethnic backgrounds, and this isn’t written out of hostility toward any particular group.
submitted by /u/Street-Ad3815
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