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More people are leaving Korea, looking for jobs overseas, while income is becoming more important than job security, the average adult drank 86.6 liters of alcohol last year, a 7.8 percent increase from 2001¡¯s 80.5 liters.
So says the National Statistical Office (NSO), which released its ¡°2003 South Korea Social Index¡± on Sunday.
According to NSO statistics, the number of registered emigrants was 11,178 last year, 3.5 percent fewer than the year before, at 11,584. A closer look at the internal factors, however, shows that employment was the top reason for leaving the country, cited by 56.5 percent of emigrants. Joining relatives was 18.4 percent, and business was 14.9 percent.
Compared to the 2001 figures, the number of overseas job-seekers increased by 3.9 percent, while other reasons for leaving -- such as marrying a non-Korean -- declined. An official at the NSO said that the change is a reflection of the domestic economic slump; more people are dreaming of establishing a new life in other countries through overseas employment.
The average monthly income for city households was W2.79 million, who spend W1.82 million of their total salary. The householder -- usually the husband -- accounted for 68.2 percent. In 1990, however, the average householder earned 73.3 percent of the total income. The proportion of the wife¡¯s income was 9.6 percent, 3.5 percent more than that of 1990. The change is attributed to the increased participation of women in the job market.
In addition, educational expenses recorded 10.9 percent of the total household monthly expenditures, the sixth consecutive year that educational expenses went over 10 percent. An official at the NSO said that despite the economic slump, people consider their children¡¯s education a priority. They first cut back on other expenses, the official said.
Setting the income level for high school graduates at 100 points, college graduates had an average income of 153.8 last year. In 1999, the ratio between high school graduates and college graduates was 100 to 159.5. The income gap between education levels is getting smaller, a result of early retirement and changing work priorities that value ability over education, the NSO said.
The number of marriages has steadily decreased over the last 10 years: last year, there were 307,000 registered couples, 13,000 fewer than 2001¡¯s 320,000 couples. With the drop in the number of married couples and increasing rate of divorce, the birth rate was at it lowest point ever, at 1.17. A birth rate of 2.1 is the minimum required to sustain a population.
(Park Yong-keun, ykpark@chosun.com )
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