SEOUL – South Korea’s economic divide has reached a critical tipping point, with real estate concentration and a shrinking social safety net driving inequality to historic levels. According to the "2026 Oxfam Doughnut Report" released by Oxfam Korea on February 23, the nation’s wealthiest property owners now control the vast majority of housing assets, while public support for the poorest households has paradoxically declined.
The Real Estate Monopoly
The report identifies real estate as the primary engine of inequality. As of 2024, the top 20% of households own 63.1% of all net assets. The disparity is even more pronounced in the housing market: the top 20% of multi-homeowners now possess 78% of the nation’s total housing value.
Oxfam attributes this surge to the post-2022 recovery in property prices, noting that the value of luxury high-end homes rose significantly faster than average housing, further insulating the wealthy from economic volatility.
A Growing Income Chasm
The gap between the "haves" and "have-nots" is no longer just a trend—it is an accelerating structural shift.
Multiplier Effect: In 2009, the top 10% earned 2.4 times more than the bottom 40%. By 2023, that ratio surged to 4.1 times.
Labor Inequality: The average annual income for the bottom 50% of workers stands at a meager 8.58 million KRW.
The 165-Year Climb: A worker in the bottom half would need to work for 165 years to match the annual salary of a top 0.1% earner (1.42 billion KRW).
The report also highlights persistent discrimination in the labor market. To earn the same annual salary as their counterparts, women must work 130 days more than men, and non-regular workers must work 267 days more than regular employees.
The Failure of Redistribution
Perhaps the most alarming finding is the retreat of the welfare state. Despite rising inequality, public transfer income for the bottom 20% of households dropped by nearly 10 percentage points, falling from 45.2% in 2009 to 35.8% in 2023.
Oxfam critiques Korea's "low-burden, low-welfare" model. Korea’s national tax burden stands at 28.9% of GDP, significantly lower than the OECD average of 33.9%. Furthermore, public social spending remains at just 72% of the OECD average.
"The irony of the Korean welfare system is that it remains centered on social insurance for regular employees," the report states. "As the number of precarious, non-regular workers grows, public benefits are increasingly concentrated on those who already have stable jobs and income."
Calls for Policy Overhaul
To combat this "inequality trap," Oxfam recommends that the Korean government aggressively increase public transfers to the bottom 40% and raise social spending to match OECD standards.
Professor Kim Yun-tae of Korea University, the lead author of the report, proposed radical structural changes:
Dedicated Task Force: Establishing a permanent body within the Presidential office and economic ministries to address inequality.
Automatic Adjusters: Legislating an "Inequality Auto-Adjustment Act" that links tax rates directly to fluctuations in the inequality index.
Without such intervention, the report warns, the social fabric of the nation may continue to weaken, leaving the most vulnerable further behind in an increasingly bifurcated economy.
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