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Half of all South Korean married couples are dual earners

Half of all South Korean married couples are dual earners, a study shows.

An increasing percentage of couples in dual-income households were almost found to be living separately, a phenomenon that was attributed to “innovation city” development and the relocation of public institutions outside the greater Seoul area.

Statistics Korea published a report on June 29 on employment conditions for dual and single-income households. As of Oct. 2015, dual-income households accounted for 5,206,000 or the 11,858,000 married households, or 43.9% - an increase of around 20,000 from 2014. The rate of dual earning remained roughly constant last year after rising from 42.9% in 2013 to 43.9% in 2014.

Recent years have seen a growing number of dual earners living separately. The number of such households rose from 447,000 in 2013 to 524,000 in 2014 and 543,000 last year. One of the major factors cited in the trend is the choice by spouses with good jobs at government and public institution to hold on to their position and visit their spouse on weekends following the relocation of government offices to Sejong City and the building of new “innovation cities,” newly planned cities in the provinces to create more balanced development in South Korea.

Dual earning rates were highest for couples in their fifties at 51.7%, followed by those in their forties (51.4%), sixties and older (30.1%), and aged 15 to 29 (37.9%).

A total of 5.11 million single-person households were counted, representing 27.2% of South Korea’s 18,776,000 households. The number means roughly one in four households consist of one person living alone. Women showed a higher rate of single living than men by a 56.5% to 43.5% margin.

The employment rate for people in single-person households was a low 48.6%, chiefly because of the large percentage of people aged 60 and older falling into the category.

By Noh Hyun-woong, staff reporter

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