Upward Income Mobility at 16.9%: Slowdown and Definitions

People who moved up an income group in 2024 accounted for 16.9% of those analyzed. This was the lowest rate over the published comparison period. Population aging and job conditions for young people are cited as contributing factors. However, this figure reflects changes in relative ranking rather than income amounts.

The main figures come from the Ministry of Data and Statistics' 2024 Income Mobility Statistics, released on October 29, 2026.

What income groups and income quintiles mean

In these statistics, income groups are based on individuals' rankings by employment and business income. People are divided into five groups, from the lowest income upward. Each group accounts for 20% of the total.

Moving up a quintile means moving into a higher group than in the previous year. Even if your salary rises, your quintile may stay the same if other people's incomes also rise. Remaining in the same quintile therefore does not mean the same thing as income stagnation.

The unit of analysis is the individual, not the household. Income is the sum of employment and business income from January through December of the relevant year. These groups are not based on the value of homes or financial assets held.

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A growing share of older adults can contribute to lower overall income mobility.

Income group mobility results for 2024

In 2024, 33.0% of those analyzed moved to a different quintile from the previous year. This rate includes both upward and downward movement. The share that remained in the same quintile was 67.0%.

The year-on-year change in the retention rate is calculated from the change in the overall mobility rate. The decline in overall mobility also includes a decline in downward mobility. A lower mobility rate therefore cannot be interpreted entirely as a deterioration in living conditions.

Income growth and upward quintile movement also differ in the actual results. The Ministry of Data and Statistics' official briefing states that the share whose income increased in 2024 was 61.4%. This is a different indicator from the 16.9% who moved up a quintile.

An increase in income also does not mean that purchasing power increased by the same amount. Changes in prices must also be considered when assessing living standards. The quintile mobility rate in these statistics does not directly measure the burden of living costs.

Why income group mobility declined

Population aging and job conditions for young people are cited as factors behind slower mobility. The Ministry of Data and Statistics explained both factors in its official briefing. However, it did not specify how much of the decline each factor accounted for.

A growing share of older people

When older people, who have lower mobility rates, make up a larger share of the population, the overall average can also fall. In 2024, mobility rates were lower in older age groups. The rates below combine upward and downward movement within each age group.

The overall average is affected by each group's mobility rate and population share. Even if each group's mobility rate stays the same, the average can change depending on the population's composition. This statistical effect needs to be distinguished when interpreting the average.

Young people's entry into stable jobs

The decline in mobility within the youth age group is a separate issue. In 2024, the mobility rate for young people fell below 40%. Their upward mobility rate was 22.4%.

The Ministry of Data and Statistics cites difficulty entering stable, high-income jobs as a contributing factor. Those who cannot enter such jobs may remain in lower quintiles. However, this explanation alone cannot establish why an individual young person's income has stagnated.

Population aging alone cannot explain slower mobility within the youth age group. Employment status and changes in income after employment need to be examined separately. This is why the overall average and age-group indicators should be read together.

Breakdown by group: retention rates in the bottom and top quintiles

In 2024, retention rates rose from the previous year in both the bottom and top quintiles. Both groups' retention rates increased by 0.6 percentage points. However, the one-year retention rate and the long-term persistence rate are different indicators.

The long-term persistence rate also accounts for whether people moved to another quintile in the intervening years. It does not simply compare their positions in the first and last years. People who left a quintile and later returned must be distinguished from those who remained throughout.

The 1st and 5th quintiles also differ in the directions they can move. There is no lower quintile for those in the 1st quintile. There is no higher quintile for those in the 5th quintile, making simple comparisons with the middle quintiles difficult.

Calculation example: upward mobility among the bottom 20%

The upward mobility rate for the previous year's 1st-quintile group differs from the overall upward mobility rate. The 2024 retention rate for those in the 1st quintile in 2023 was 70%. Everyone else moved to the 2nd through 5th quintiles.

• Formula: 100% - 70.7% = 29.3%
• Result: The share of the 2023 1st-quintile group that moved upward in 2024 was 29.3%.
• Comparison: The upward mobility rate for everyone analyzed was 16.9%.

The 29.3% figure is calculated from the 1st-quintile retention rate. The two rates differ because they are calculated for different groups. This group-level statistic cannot be used as an individual's probability of moving up the following year.

How are young people with no income reflected in the statistics?

The main annual comparison of quintile mobility covers people with employment or business income in both years. People with none of this income in either year are therefore excluded from this comparison. Describing this as the upward mobility rate for the entire population would misrepresent the scope of the analysis.

Conversely, people do not need to be employed throughout the year to be included. Working for only part of the year can still result in recorded annual income. The official briefing explains the income counting criteria as follows.

So even if someone has income in January and February and is unemployed for the rest of the period, they are considered to have income.

This statement comes from the Ministry of Data and Statistics' briefing on the “Results of the 2024 Income Mobility Statistics.” Having income in both years does not mean that employment is stable. Quintile mobility rates alone cannot adequately capture the difficulties young people face in finding their first jobs.

This scope of analysis points to additional indicators to examine.

• Labor market entry: Whether young people who had no income found jobs
• Changes after employment: How income amounts and income quintiles changed
• Employment continuity: How long people worked during the year and whether their employment status was stable

Declining youth population and labor force projections

The decline in the youth population is a long-term change that should be distinguished from the current slowdown in income mobility. The mobility rate is the share of people within a group whose quintile changed. Population projections indicate how much that group's size is expected to change in the future.

The labor force peak comes from the Korea Employment Information Service's projection. It should not be read as an already observed result. Later projections may give a different timing or size.

The youth population figures are from the medium variant of the population projections released in 2023. These projections apply assumptions about births, deaths, and international migration. Their age range also differs from that of young people in the income mobility statistics.

The current task is to expand the paths through which young people can raise their incomes after finding employment. In the long term, the group of young people entering the labor market will itself shrink. A decline in the number of young people alone does not establish that entering good jobs will become easier.

Common mistakes: confusing income mobility with poverty and inequality

Income mobility, poverty, and inequality are concepts that answer different questions. These statistics focus on changes in individuals' employment and business income. Other indicators are needed to assess household living conditions or wealth gaps.

Even when an individual's income is low, other household members may have income. It is therefore difficult to equate the 1st-quintile retention rate with a poverty persistence rate. For the same reason, these figures alone cannot establish that social stratification has become entrenched across society.