hankyoreh

By Kwon Eun-jung, staff reporter

Survey results show the backbone of South Korean society, the middle class, is buckling under pressure. The percentage of people viewing themselves as middle class in social and economic terms fell to an all-time low, while the percentage describing themselves as “lower class” reached the highest level since statistics were first gathered, according to a survey by Statistics Korea released on Dec. 4.

The survey showed only 51.4% of respondents giving their socioeconomic status as “middle class” in terms of the head of household’s income, occupation, education, assets, and other facts.

It was the lowest rate since the survey was first conducted in 1988. That year, 60.6% of heads of household reported themselves as being “middle class.” The percentage peaked at 61.3% in 1991 before dropping to 52.8% in 2011.

Meanwhile, the percentage saying they viewed themselves as “lower class” surged to a historic high of 46.7%. The level rose from 36.9% in 1988 to pass 40% for the first time in 1999, a year after the 1997-98 foreign exchange crisis, when it reached 44%. By 2011, it was up to 45.3%.

The rate was especially high among female heads of household, with 62.3% reporting themselves as lower class. The level was 20% higher than among male heads of household, where it was 41.4%. Only 36.8% of female heads of household identified as middle class.

Hopes for advancement also seem to be ebbing. Only 28.2% of respondents said there was a good chance of their socioeconomic status improving through hard work during their lifetime, compared to 57.9% who viewed the chance as slim. The number expecting their children’s generation to have improved status was down for 39.9% from 41.7% in 2011, while the number viewing that as unlikely rose to 43.7% from 42.9% in the last survey.

Lee Jun-hyup, a research fellow at the Hyundai Research Institute, noted that while the population of middle class South Koreans actually rose last year from 64% to 65%, the number of heads of household saying they “felt middle class” dropped.

“What this means is that the economic and employment conditions the middle class is dealing with are not improving as much as the indicators would suggest,” Lee said.

A source at Statistics Korea’s social statistics bureau cautioned about interpreting trends from subjective responses. “Unlike the middle class statistics where we divided the population up into brackets around the median income [a range of 50-150% of the median line], the middle class survey involves asking people for their subjective judgments, and there can be some variation in the numbers that reflects the social situation or circumstances at the time of questioning,” the source explained.

The survey, conducted between May 11 and 26, questioned 38,000 people aged 13 or older from 17,664 households around the country. Items focused on five categories: welfare, social engagement, culture/leisure, income/consumption, and labor.

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