▲ A passerby walks past a poster promoting home mortgage loans put up at a bank in central Seoul, in this June 15, 2025, file photo. (Yonhap)

wage workers-debt

Wage workers' debt up 2.4 pct in 2024 on mortgage loan growth

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- The average debt held by wage workers in South Korea increased in 2024 from a year earlier, driven largely by growth in mortgage loans despite higher benchmark interest rates, the statistics agency said Tuesday.

The average bank and non-bank loans extended to paid workers in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 52.75 million won (US$35,190) per person as of end-2024, marking a 2.4 percent rise from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Average mortgage loans held by workers rose to 22.65 million won in 2024, compared with 20.38 million won the previous year, the ministry said.

"Amid persistently high interest rates and policy efforts to curb household lending, most types of credit loans declined, while only mortgage lending increased," Choi Jae-hyuk, a ministry official, said.

By lender type, bank loans to wage workers rose 4.7 percent on-year in 2024, while non-bank loans declined 1.8 percent.

The data also showed that male wage workers held an average per capita debt of 65.8 million won in 2024, compared with 37.7 million won held by female employees.

By age group, workers in their 40s carried the highest average debt at 81.9 million won, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier. In contrast, workers aged 29 and younger saw their debt decline by 1.8 percent.

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