Seoul (The Korea Herald/ANN) - The number of people making a living off the entertainment industry in South Korea surged 40 percent last year, a sign that more wannabe stars are betting on the booming industry.
Those who registered themselves as an actor, singer, model or a TV personality exceeded 170,000 in 2010, the National Tax Service said, posting a much higher increase than the average 6-percent gain in the number of people joining the salary-earning workforce.
Those who categorized themselves as actors grew to 28,000, up almost 47 percent from 19,000 in 2009. Self-described models surged to 14,000, up 73 percent from 9,800 of 2009. The number of singers now stands at 11,500, up 55 percent from 7,400 in 2009.
The surge in the entertainment industry is much higher than increases elsewhere. The total number of freelancers and self-employed people increased 10 percent in the same time, to 3,739,000. Salary earning workers were tallied at 15,180,000 last year, up 6 percent from 14,290,000 the year before.
The state agency said the surge into the entertainment industry has diluted the already squeezed income level.
"The industry has enjoyed a continued inflow of talented young people but most of them, especially actors and models, are earning less and less," NTS said. The average take-home pay for models declined 23 percent to 3.8 million won a year, almost half of the lowest cost of living set by the government.
Actors earned 25 percent less on average last year, 13.7 million won. Pay for singers and songwriters decreased 11 percent and 8 percent each to 4.4 million won and 6.6 million won, below the 6.4 million won, the country's lowest cost of living.
"Take-home pay for them could be even lower since some of them have agencies to share their profit," an industry official said.
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