The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) has published Health and Welfare Issue & Focus, No. 420, "Income Protection Programs and Disposable Income Distribution in the 2010s." 

Lee Won-jin, an associate research fellow at the Center for Research on Basic Social Protection at KIHASA, who led the research this brief summarizes, pointed out whereas income distribution in Korea deteriorated in the period spanning the 1990s and the late 2000s, it improved in the 2010s. He said, "I wanted to look into this period in particular to examine its income distribution trends, which had not received enough attention yet. Drawing on the Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions, I examined trends in income distribution in the 2010s and the effects of income protection programs on them."

Lee views that if there has been no demographic aging and family structure changes such as a decline in older adults living with grown-up children, the distribution of market-income would have improved steadily. He therefore says that absent such changes in the population and family structures, the distribution of disposable income would have improved more rapidly by the expansion of social security and taxation. 

He added, "Child-related benefits with universal coverage have grown substantilally lately, with childcare allwoance expanding in 2013 and the implementation of child allowance in 2018. In 2019, low-income workers' subsidy and home childcare allowance have expanded a great deal. With these changes, Korea's income protection system may already be going through qualitative changes. So there is a need for rigorous discussions about an optimal mix of income protection programs."

For the full translation of this issue of Health and Welfare Issue & Focus, read Research in Brief 2022-7, "Income Protection Programs and Disposable Income Distribution in the 2010s."