What is the revenue or earnings of korean actors and model?

Recent reports by Korea’s National Tax Service showed that there are extremely large income gaps in the entertainment industry. Have you ever wondered why many idols or models try to change their career and become an actor/actress? Some of them even already gain success for their role, either as a model or idols/singer. Well, if you notice, people in south Korea often thinks that actor is above idols/models. This image made actor/actress more desirable to be picked as cf model/Brand ambassador. In short, being a successful actor or actress will get you more money (in general) than being an idol/singer. That's what many said, but is it the truth?

According to the TAX reports, the number of people who paid taxes as actors last year was 15,870. The average pretax income of these actors that year was 42 million won (approximately $37,100). It's the annual income.

However, a closer look at the data revealed that the income gap between the highest and lowest-paid actors was significant. 158 of the highest-paid actors earned an annual average of more than 2 billion won (approximately $1.8 million). This 158 highest paid actors become the top 1 percent yet could accounted for 47.3 percent of the whole income.

The top 10 percent which consisted of 1,587 actors, accounted for 86.8 percent of the whole income with an average salary of 367 million won (approximately $324,700). The sum isn't bad right? I mean if you've heard several story where an idol reveal that they're in debt or hasn't get paid yet, of course being an actor will secure you more money. Looking back of the tax report... What does it means?

The remaining 90 percent of the actors earned an average of 6.2 million won (approximately $5,500), meaning that their average monthly income was only 520,000 won (approximately $500).

The average monthly income of the top 1 percent was therefore 324 times that of the lower 90 percent. It's so shocking! So either you become the lead role, you won't get a thing, especially if you're just a cameo or supporting role. How about model? Well let's see... The top 1 percent of models’ income accounted for 48 percent of the total income. While they made an average of 544 million won (approximately $481,100) per year, the lower 90 percent only earned 2.7 million won (approximately $2,400).

The same problem was seen in cases of singers. Of the 4,667 people who declared their taxes as singers, the top 1 percent earned an average of more than 4.2 billion won (approximately $3.8 million) per year. On the other hand, the lower 90 percent’s average salary was 8.7 million won (approximately $7,700).

So here is short comparison for you:

TOP 1%

Actor (158 person) more than 2 billion won

Singer (466 person) more than 4.2 billion won

Model 544 million won

The lowest

Actor 6.2 million won

Singer 8.7 million won

Model 2.7 million won

So are you surprised with this info?