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| Statistics released by Korea Labor Research Institutes showed that Korea topped the list of income inequality among retirees out of members of organization of economic cooperation and development. | ||
South Korea topped the list of income inequality among retirees out of members of Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the inequality turned out to get worse after the retirement.
According to the statistics in new edition of ‘Monthly Labor Review’ released by Korea Labor Research Institutes on Sunday, Gini’s coefficient index for those who are retired in Korea at the age of 65-year-old and more recorded the second highest place among 30 countries of OECD by having 0.396 point, which is right next to Mexico with 0.56 point.
Korea stands out for recording higher Gini coefficient among the elderly than younger generation aged from 18 to 65 while most countries continued to see income poverty for senior citizens continue to fall.
Income equality has risen significantly since 2000 in 8 countries including Mexico, Japan, U.S., and Korea which has 0.303 and 0.396 respectively for the index of laborers and retirees.
However, Denmark and Sweden saw only 0.201 and 0.217 for Gini’s coefficient of retirees.
Gini-coefficient of inequality is the most commonly used measure of inequality. The coefficient varies between 0, which reflects complete equality and 1, which indicates complete inequality (one person has all the income or consumption, all others have none).
Generally 0.4 is considered that the inequality is widely spread in the society.
A researcher at KLRI said that the income inequality among elderly has increased due to the immature pension system in both Korea and Mexico and because of more entries of senior citizens into the labor market in U.S. and Japan.
On average, the Gini coefficient of income inequalities increased by around 2 percentage points, i.e. 7%. While income inequality has risen significantly since 2000 in a number of OECD countries, for France, Ireland and Spain, a small decline has been witnessed.
By Shin Kirim
신기림 기자 kirimi99@ajnews.co.kr
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