7 out of 10 People See Social Inequality as 'Serious'... Seoul City Releases Fairness Perception Survey Results

Survey of 1,000 Seoul Citizens Aged 18 and Over
68.8% Say Social Inequality Is 'Serious'
Asset Inequality Including Real Estate Most Severe, Highest Among 30s (51.7%)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Seven out of ten Seoul citizens responded that inequality is severe throughout our society.

Seoul City announced on the 27th the results of a perception survey on social fairness conducted by Korea Research, targeting 1,000 citizens aged 18 and older.

Among the respondents, 68.8% answered that inequality is severe throughout society. The area perceived as having the most severe inequality was asset formation such as real estate (41.1%). This was followed by politics and social participation (24.1%) and jobs such as employment and promotion (20.8%).

The age group that felt inequality in asset formation such as real estate most severely was those in their 30s (51.7%).

Regarding income inequality, 78.8% of citizens thought it was unequal, and the main cause of income inequality was identified as the low wage increase rate compared to price increases such as real estate, accounting for 30.8%, ranking first.

Regarding perceptions of inequality between the older and younger generations, six out of ten responded that intergenerational inequality is severe. In particular, there was a high level of agreement that the current situation of the younger generation is at a disadvantage compared to the older generation, such as opportunities for asset formation (69.1%), possibilities for social mobility (66.5%), and opportunities for good jobs (61.5%).

Citizens perceived that the system in our society plays a role in protecting the interests of the upper class (61.1%) rather than protecting the vulnerable (17.9%).

In this survey, when asked about subjective class consciousness, 15.5% thought they belonged to the upper class, 45.6% to the middle class, and 38.9% to the lower class. Six out of ten expected that the current class status would be maintained in the future.

The city plans to prepare measures to increase the perceived effectiveness of fair starting line policies in the future. Park Jinyoung, Director of Citizen Communication Planning, said, "Seoul City will continuously monitor citizens' perceptions and policy awareness on major social issues and improve policies by reflecting the results."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.