Am I Middle Class in Korea? The Standard vs Reality

I. Accidentally Encountering the Middle-Class Standard

I happened to come across a definition of what it means to be middle class.

Owning a 30-pyeong apartment with no mortgage, earning 5 million KRW per month, owning a 2,000cc or larger car outright, holding at least 100 million KRW in cash, and taking one overseas trip per year.

“Many people have worked hard all their lives, yet far more fail to reach this standard.

The ‘wall of the middle class’ we experience is higher than we expect.”

I managed to own a 30-pyeong apartment only at the age of 52.

With dual income, we barely finished paying off the loan. Now I survive running a small business on my own.

My income fluctuates, my car is a compact one, I have almost no cash, and while I traveled once last year and once this year, it has become difficult now that we rely on a single income.

“Who, then, actually meets the middle-class standard?” That question kept circling in my head.

II. Average Earned Income by Age Group

This statistic shows average annual income by age, without distinguishing between large corporations and small or medium-sized companies.

Even by simple calculation, very few people earn 5 million KRW per month. An annual income of 50 million KRW translates to about 4.16 million KRW per month.

So why does the “average income” appear so high?

III. Wage Gap Between Large Corporations and SMEs

Now it becomes clear why the average income appears so high.

When large-corporation wages are set as the baseline, SME wages amount to about 61.7%.

In other words, when a worker at a large corporation earns 1 million KRW, a worker at an SME earns about 617,000 KRW.

And the gap widens with age.

• In the 40s: about 45%
• In the 50s: about 40%

So how many people actually work at large corporations?

Excluding non-profit organizations, 15.7% of workers are employed by large corporations, while 63.9% work at SMEs.

Out of roughly 11.96 million wage earners, only about 1.87 million work for large corporations.

It seems that only this group lives anywhere near the so-called “middle class.”

IV. SME Workers and the Wall of the Middle Class

We were taught that “anyone can become middle class if they work hard.”

Has anyone not worked hard? Most people endure each day, simply getting through life. Yet the path from working class to middle class feels unbearably long.

Perhaps we live in a world where working hard merely allows us to remain part of the working class. The road upward is narrow, while the fall downward is fast.

What if someone had told us this in middle or high school?

• “If you don’t enter a large corporation, you’re likely to remain working class.”
• “Civil service offers stability, but income-wise, it is still working class.”
• “Running a business can mean poverty if it fails, middle class if it succeeds, and wealth if it thrives.”

Having worked at SMEs for over 20 years, perhaps failing to meet the middle-class standard was inevitable.

If I had known this reality earlier, would anything have changed?

I don’t know. But even recognizing reality now, I hope it can be the beginning of a small change for our children.