Wage workers' debt gains 10.3 pct in 2020

SEJONG, March 29 (Yonhap) -- Debt held by wage workers in South Korea grew at a much faster pace in 2020 from a year earlier amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday.

Bank and non-bank loans extended to paid workers in Asia's fourth-largest economy averaged 48.6 million won (US$39,800) per person as of end-2020, up 10.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The growth rate was much higher than the 5.6 percent on-year increase recorded a year earlier.

Bank loans to wage workers expanded 11.6 percent on-year in 2020, with non-bank loans to them increasing 8 percent.

Credit and secure loans taken out by wage workers surged 19.2 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively, while mortgage loans inched up 1.6 percent.

Male workers' per capita debt came to 60.3 million won in 2020, or 1.75 times that of female employees.

Per capita loans extended to wage workers in their 40s were the highest at 71.3 million won, followed by 30-somethings with 64.6 million won and those in their 50s with 58.1 million won.

The loan delinquency rate for wage workers stood at 0.5 percent in 2020, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the data.

Analysts said wage workers' growing debt is feared to hamper their capacity to service debt and emerge as a drag on the country's economy.

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