3 out of 10 Agricultural and Food Service Workers Earn Less Than 1 Million Won Monthly

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] According to a survey, about 3 out of 10 workers engaged in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and food service industries earn less than 1 million won per month.

According to the results of the "2019 Second Half Regional Employment Survey: Characteristics of Employed Persons by Industry and Occupation" released by Statistics Korea on the 21st, among 2,747,000 wage workers in the second half of last year (as of October), 10.1% earned less than 1 million won per month on average. By amount, 23.1% earned between 1 million and less than 2 million won, 31.9% between 2 million and less than 3 million won, 17.0% between 3 million and less than 4 million won, and 17.9% earned 4 million won or more.

By industry, the proportion of workers earning less than 1 million won per month was high in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and food service industries. Specifically, agriculture, forestry and fisheries (30.6%), accommodation and food service activities (27.8%), health and social welfare services (23.7%), and arts, sports, and leisure-related services (20.0%). By occupation, 28.0% of simple labor workers earned less than 1 million won, and among service workers, this rate was 25.2%. Conversely, the highest proportion of high earners receiving 4 million won or more per month was in finance and insurance (39.6%), followed by professional, scientific and technical services (37.4%) and information and communication industries (35.8%), which also showed high average wages.

The proportion of those earning less than 1 million won per month decreased by 0.1 percentage points from 10.2% a year ago. The proportion of workers earning between 1 million and less than 2 million won declined by 4.0 percentage points from 27.1% to 23.1% over the year. The proportion earning between 2 million and less than 3 million won (31.9%) increased by 2.2 percentage points, while those earning between 3 million and less than 4 million won (17.0%) rose by 0.7 percentage points, and those earning 4 million won or more (17.9%) increased by 1.1 percentage points.

In the second half of last year, the total number of employed persons was 27,509,000, of which 6,762,000 were non-wage workers. The largest number of wage workers was in manufacturing (3,939,000), while non-wage workers were predominantly in agriculture, forestry and fisheries (1,421,000).

By industry subcategory, retail trade excluding automobiles employed 2,194,000 people, accounting for 8.0% of all employed persons. The food and beverage service industry employed 2,148,000 (7.9%), and education services employed 1,875,000 (6.8%). Compared to the previous year, the number of workers in social welfare services increased by 154,000, and those in food and beverage services increased by 106,000.

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