The continuing decline of the middle class and increase in the ranks of the poor threaten to exacerbate South Korea's demographic woes, Kim Dong Seop, an editorial writer for the Chonsun Ilbo daily, told the March 13 symposium.
Compared with the large-scale unemployment caused by the 1997 currency crisis, South Korean people appear to be relatively calm in response to the current global shock, Kim said. Still, the decline of the middle class that began in the previous crisis is continuing, with the share of middle-income earners as defined by the government in the entire population falling from 68.5 percent in 1996 to 58 percent in 2007, he pointed out.
And the recession triggered by the current crisis has pushed many middle-class people into the ranks of the poor, including those in their 40s and 50s who have lost jobs, as well as small and medium-size business owners left out of social security benefits, he added.