The real income of households has posted a drop for the first time in five quarters on the back of high inflation and scaled-back pandemic relief.

According to Statistics Korea, the average household earned four-point-86 million won, or around three-thousand-600 U.S. dollars, per month in the July-to-September period to rise three percent on-year.

On-year consumer prices climbed five-point-nine percent. the fastest since 1998. 
Still, real income decreased by two-point-eight percent, while income from state benefits slid over 18 percent as pandemic-related compensation and subsidies were scaled down.

Earned income increased five-point-four percent on-year to an average of three-point-11 million won per month and the monthly average income from business operations rose 12 percent.

Meanwhile, the income gap between the bottom 20 percent and the upper 20 percent brackets widened in the cited period.

The country's distribution ratio for disposable income, a key barometer of earnings equality, rose zero-point-41 from the previous year to hit five-point-75, meaning the top income quintile earned that much more than the bottom 20 percent.