Real Wages Drop 1.7% Drop in Q1 Due to Rise in Consumer Prices

New data finds that real wages in South Korea slipped one-point-seven percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year after consumer prices rose in March. 

According to the labor ministry’s survey of businesses’ workforce released on Thursday, a worker’s average monthly salary stood at roughly four million won, or around 29-hundred U.S. dollars, as of March. That’s up two-point-nine percent in the nominal wage from the same period last year. 

In terms of real wages, which are adjusted for inflation, a worker’s monthly salary was found to have slipped point-two percent to around three-and-a-half million won during the same period due to a three-point-one percent rise in consumer prices in March. That’s around two-thousand-557 U.S. dollars. 

Calculated by subtracting inflation from nominal wages, real wages for the first quarter witnessed a one-point-seven percent drop from the same period last year to some three-point-seven million won, or around 27-hundred U.S. dollars. 

The survey also found that a worker’s average working hours per month stood at 154-point-eight hours in the first three months of the year, or two-point-eight hours less than the same period last year.