A South Korean household’s average monthly income rose eight-tenths of a percent year-on-year in the first quarter to over four-point-five million won, or about three-thousand-860 U.S dollars. However, real income growth, factoring in inflation, actually dropped by zero-point-two percent.
According to Statistics Korea data on first quarter household trends released Friday, the real monthly average income of South Korean households posted minus growth for the second consecutive quarter.
Meanwhile, monthly disposable income grew one percent on average year-on-year to three-point-seven million won during the first three months of the year.
What’s called the average propensity to consume, or the fraction of total consumption spending to disposable income, fell zero-point-three percentage points to just over 72 percent in the first quarter. It’s the lowest reading for the first quarter since data began to be compiled in 2003.