Why Korea's Middle Class Is Collapsing

Chosun Ilbo ^ | 04/16/2013 | Chosun Ilbo

[TexGrill]

Global consulting firm McKinsey said in a report on Sunday that half of all middle-class Korean households risk falling into poverty as they are trapped by slow income growth and increased expenditures.

The proportion of middle-class households shrank from 75.4 percent in 1990 to 67.5 percent in 2010, and 55 percent of middle-class families are having a tough time making ends meet as they are burdened by debt, according to McKinsey.

The biggest reason for the decline of the middle class is a drop in the number of high-paying jobs with major business conglomerates, which led to a standstill in income growth. Productivity of major manufacturers increased 9.3 percent on average annually from 1995 to 2010, but their overseas production also rose from 6.7 percent in 2005 to 16.7 percent in 2010, resulting in an average 2 percent fall a year in domestic hiring.

Small- and mid-sized businesses, which account for 88 percent of domestic jobs, and the service sector, which accounts for 70 percent, are suffering from low productivity.

[TexGrill]

Just wait til Korea's middle class see their electric bills after new carbon legislation goes into effect in the country.

[kjo]

Don’t worry the US/Korean governing class will just redefine “poverty”.

Here’s a prediction: regardless of what happens to the rest of us...government “workers” will continue to get richer.

[txrefugee]

Under Obama, the Rich have become richer and the Poor poorer. U.S. household headed by those 35 and under have seen their income drop nearly 15% since 2008.

That is disastrous for our country and explains the millions on food stamps. Not all of them are loafers. Many simply need to feed their children as their wages have fallen. Importing hordes of illegal aliens to further drive down wages has also damaged those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

[PGR88]

Note that the only decent jobs are with the state-sponsored, crony-capitalist chaebols.

Once again, these are the fruits of progressivism. Gov’t control of the economy always hurts the middle class, hurts the poor, and creates wide gaps in wealth in society between the Gov’t-connected and sponsored rich, and everyone else.

[silverleaf]

trickle down poverty, all part of the obama plan to “level the playing field”

on the bright side, look how many more of us will get free obamaphones to text in our votes for 2016

[central_va]

Crowald-Piven

[Reeses]

Small- and mid-sized businesses, which account for 88 percent of domestic jobs, and the service sector, which accounts for 70 percent, are suffering from low productivity.

Productivity is a euphemism for automation. In the past automation mainly displaced lower class physical labor workers, but now it is replacing average middle class workers. Robotics is going to put most people out of work. We will essentially become human pets. While the pet lifestyle has its advantages, pets get put to sleep the moment their owners run out of cost effective options. Does planet Earth need 3 billion of just one type of pet? Which country will be the first to solve it's oversupply of pets via nuclear war? If you want your family to have a chance of survival, live away from the high population density nuclear target zones.