Poverty Doesn't Hide: Government's Welfare Calculations Criticized for Perpetuating Hardship

The South Korean government's recent decision on calculating the standard median income has sparked criticism, with many arguing it perpetuates poverty rather than alleviating it. The Central Living Security Committee announced a new formula on July 28th, which will be used to determine eligibility and benefit amounts for 80 welfare programs across 14 ministries.

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Bags and shoes are falling apart, but I mend them. I cut back on living expenses. I bought them as high school entrance gifts. It was a day we ordered chicken and ate deliciously with the children because livelihood security benefits came in. I always lack money, so I can't sleep.

While the government promotes this as a record 6.70% increase, the article points out a significant flaw: the new standard for 2027 will not even reflect the actual median income from 2024. This is due to a three-year statistical lag in the data used. The government's "arbitrary" application of a correction ratio to lower the standard median income has been a long-standing criticism.

The calculation method itself is complex, with the article highlighting how it overestimates recipients' income and assets while underestimating their actual needs. For instance, the basic livelihood security benefit is set at 32% of the standard median income. For a single-person household in 2027, this means a benefit of approximately 875,533 won, based on a standard median income of 2,736,042 won. If a recipient's recognized income is 500,000 won, the government will provide the difference, a sum deemed insufficient.

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Side dishes at the market are too small, but 5,000 won per item is really tough. I have to eat side dishes sparingly until the 20th. For the first time in 5 years, I bought winter pants and a jacket. Do I really have to tighten my belt? I'm depressed all day.

Analysis of household ledgers from 20 recipient families revealed that food expenses accounted for 43% of their budgets, averaging 330,000 won per month. Many struggled to afford meat or fish, resorting to discounted items nearing their expiration dates. One household consumed ramen 46 times over a 57-day period. Housing benefits for single individuals in Seoul, capped at 350,000 won, are insufficient to cover rent, maintenance, and utilities for most.

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The government is promoting a 'record 6.70% increase,' but it is merely deceptive information that hides the truth that the welfare baseline for 2027 cannot even reflect the income level of 2024.

The article concludes that poverty is not hidden, as the government suggests with its AI-based welfare gap discovery policy. Instead, it argues that the gap between the standard median income and the actual poverty line remains unaddressed due to policy design and the continued existence of the guarantor system. The real need, the author states, is not AI, but political determination to reform a welfare system that fails to acknowledge poverty as poverty.

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What is needed now is not AI to find the poor, but political determination to change the welfare system that does not call poverty poverty.