Articles

Articles

Estimating the Labor Income of Non-wage Workers Using Micro Data and Its Implication on the Labor Income Share in Korea
  • Author
    Yong-Seok Choi (Kyung Hee University) and Sukha Shin (Sookmyung Women’s University)
  • Year
    2025
  • Volume
    Vol.18
  • Number
    No.2
  • Unlike conventional methods that estimate labor income for non-wage workers using macro data and arbitrary assumptions based on the Bank of Korea’s national accounts, this study applies the ILO (2019) methodology using micro-level data from the supplementary surveys of the Economically Active Population Survey conducted from 2001 to 2023 to estimate labor income for non-wage workers in Korea. The ILO (2019) estimates hourly wages of employees based on their individual characteristics and applies these estimates to non-wage workers, assuming that individuals with identical characteristics receive the same labor income. This study adopts the ILO (2019) approach but introduces additional statistical adjustments to ensure consistency with national accounts. Specifically, the estimated labor income of non-wage workers is downwardly adjusted to account for differences in employment status, working hours and the gap between compensation of employees and wages. Incorporating these adjustments, the estimated average labor income share in Korea is 66.7% based on net value added and 53.2% based on gross value added.
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