South Korean households’ quarterly income falls for first time since Q2 2021 – govt data

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean households’ quarterly income declined on the year for the first time since the second quarter of 2021, government data showed on Thursday, amid cooling economic growth and surging inflation.

Disposable income for households nationwide fell 3.6% in real terms in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier, according to the Statistics Korea data. The decline came just after a record-high 8.3% rise in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, South Korea’s economic growth fell to its slowest in a year, as poor net exports offset pent-up spending, while consumer prices jumped 5.9% over a year earlier, the fastest in nearly 24 years.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)