Household income up 2.4% in Q1 on wage hike, more pensioners

Korea's average household income rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, driven by an increase in wages and a rise in the number of pensioners, government data showed Thursday. The average monthly income of households came to 5.48 million won ($3,649) in the January-March period, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics. Considering inflation, the household income rose 0.4 percent on-year in the first quarter. Income earned through wages edged up 0.3 percent in the cited period to an average of 3.42 million won per month, due mainly to a rise in salaries among employees. The average monthly income from business operations came to 925,000 won, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier. Transfer income jumped 9.7 percent to 964,000 won, following a rise in the number of beneficiaries under the National Pension Service, which totaled 7.59 million in January, up 7 percent from a year earlier. Monthly household spending grew 4.2 percent to 4.24 million won amid rising consumer prices in the wake of the Middle East war. Of the expenditures, consumption spending, whic

Original source: Korea Times