Assemblyman Kim Hoe-jae Points Out Serious Imbalance Between Regions and the Capital Area

"75% of Top 1% Earners Are Metropolitan Area Workers"

By Local Government: Seoul 44.5%, Gyeonggi 27.0%, Busan 4.3%

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] It has been revealed that 75 out of 100 top 1% wage earners work in the Seoul metropolitan area.

It is pointed out that the imbalance between regions and the metropolitan area is becoming severe due to factors such as good jobs.

According to the data on the 'Status of Top 1% Wage Earners by Metropolitan Autonomous Region' submitted by Kim Hoe-jae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Yeosu-si Eul, Jeonnam), from the National Tax Service, the year-end tax settlement results for wage income in 2020 showed that the number of top 1% wage earners was 194,953.

Among them, 145,322 top 1% wage earners work in the Seoul metropolitan area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon). This means that the proportion of top 1% wage earners working in the metropolitan area accounts for a majority of 74.5%.

By the 17 metropolitan autonomous regions, Seoul had the highest number of top 1% wage earners at 86,716 (44.5%), followed by Gyeonggi with 52,651 (27.0%), Busan with 8,447 (4.3%), and Gyeongnam with 6,340 (3.3%).

Excluding Sejong (516), which has regional characteristics, Jeju had the fewest top 1% wage earners at 1,163. Gangwon (1,912) and Jeonbuk (2,333) also had fewer top 1% wage earners compared to other regions.

Considering the population, the number of top 1% wage earners per 100,000 people was also higher in the metropolitan area.

The number of top 1% wage earners per 100,000 people was highest in Seoul at 897, followed by Gyeonggi at 392, Ulsan at 287, Busan at 249, and Daejeon at 223.

On the other hand, regions with fewer top 1% wage earners per 100,000 people were Gangwon (124), Jeonbuk (129), Sejong (145), Jeonnam (151), and Jeju (172).

Assemblyman Kim Hoe-jae said, “Regions are already facing the crisis of extinction,” and added, “Comprehensive policy support for balanced development, such as promoting regional headquarters systems, must be implemented.”

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