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FALLING LABOR INCOME INEQUALITY IN KOREA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH: PATTERNS AND UNDERLYING CAUSES
Author(s) -
Fields Gary S.,
Yoo Gyeongjoon
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4991.2000.tb00952.x
Subject(s) - economics , economic inequality , inequality , income distribution , per capita income , labour economics , falling (accident) , income inequality metrics , wage , demographic economics , total personal income , net national income , development economics , gross income , market economy , medicine , mathematical analysis , mathematics , environmental health , demography , tax reform , sociology , state income tax
Over the last twenty‐five years, the economy of the Republic of Korea achieved a remarkable growth rate of 7 percent per year in real per capita income, causing it to be labeled, justifiably, as a “miracle economy.” This exceptional economic growth has beenpp accompanied by an even more exceptional fall m labor income inequality. Using a newly‐developed methodology, we use data from Korea's Occupational Wage Surveys to quantify the importance of various factors that have contributed to the fall in labor income inequality in Korea. We find the most important factors explaining the level of income inequality are job tenure, gender, years of education, and occupation, while those that are most important in explaining the change in income inequality are years of education, industry, occupation, and potential experience.