SEOUL, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Income equality in South Korea improved in the first quarter on the government's efforts to increase earnings of the low-income bracket, a government report showed Thursday.
The bottom 20-percent households with at least two family members earned a monthly average income of 1,255,000 won (1,054 U.S. dollars) in the January-March quarter, down 2.5 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
The falling pace sharply slowed from a 17.7-percent drop tallied in the previous quarter. It came as the government pushed for a so-called income-driven economic policy to narrow income gaps.
However, the downward trend continued amid the rapidly aging population. The government's job-creating efforts were focused on the older generation.
The monthly average income for households in the income bracket of the bottom 20-40 percent climbed 4.4 percent in the cited period.
The nominal monthly income for the top 20-percent households averaged 9,925,000 won (8,339 U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, down 2.2 percent from a year ago. It was the first decline in 13 quarters.
Helped by the improved earnings in the low-income bracket, the ratio of disposable income for the top 20-percent households to the one for the bottom 20 percent stood at 5.80 in the first quarter, down from 5.95 a year earlier.
It was also attributed to the government's expanded welfare policy such as the provision of unemployment benefits, national pension and childcare allowances.
The nominal monthly income for all households with more than two family members averaged 4,826,000 won (4,055 U.S. dollars), up 1.3 percent from a year earlier.
