Six out of every 10 married couples raising children are now dual-income households, according to new data. As high prices and the burden of housing and education costs grow, having both spouses work is becoming a basic condition for making ends meet rather than a choice, even in households with young children.
According to the "Second Half 2025 Regional Employment Survey on Dual-Income and Single-Person Household Employment Status" released by Statistics Korea on Tuesday, there were 3.785 million married households with children under 18 last year, down 153,000 from a year earlier. Among them, dual-income households numbered 2.287 million, down 17,000 over the same period.
On the surface, dual-income households with children also declined. But the picture differs when viewed in proportional terms. The share of dual-income households among married households with children under 18 rose to 60.4% last year, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous year. It marked the first time the figure surpassed the 60% line in related statistics.
What pushed up the dual-income share was a sharp drop in single-income households. Single-income households with children under 18 fell to 1.497 million last year from 1.633 million in 2024, a decline of 136,000. That is eight times the rate of decline among dual-income households. It means that as households with children decline overall, single-income households are disappearing at a faster pace.
Particularly notable are households with infants and young children. The dual-income share among households whose youngest child is 6 or under rose to 56.5% last year, up 3.3 percentage points from the previous year. Households whose youngest child is aged 7 to 12 stood at 61.2%, up 1.4 percentage points, and those with children aged 13 to 17 stood at 64.5%, up 0.4 percentage points. While the dual-income share itself was highest among households with middle and high school-aged children, the fastest growth came from households with children 6 or under.
This is interpreted to mean that the number of households in which neither spouse can quit working is increasing, even during periods when the childcare burden is heavy. Typically, the younger the child, the more common the single-income structure has been, with one parent handling childcare and the other supporting the family due to the burden of care. Recently, however, as the burden of living, housing and education costs has grown, the trend of both spouses remaining in the workforce even when children are young has strengthened.
By number of children, two-child households had the highest dual-income share. The dual-income share among married households with two children under 18 was 61.5%. Households with one child stood at 60.4%, while those with three or more children stood at 54.4%. The dual-income share of two-child households and households with three or more children each rose by 2.2 percentage points.
However, working hours for dual-income households raising children declined slightly. The average weekly working hours for dual-income households with children under 18 was 38.6 hours, down 0.4 hours from the previous year. For men it was 42.1 hours and for women 35.1 hours, down 0.3 hours and 0.6 hours respectively. While the number of households where both spouses work increased, the burden of balancing work and childcare appears to be reflected in working hours.
The dual-income share rose among all married households as well. Married households numbered 12.65 million last year, down 22,000 from the previous year, but dual-income households rose by 67,000 to 6.153 million. As a result, the dual-income share among married households was 48.6%, up 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier.
By age group, the dual-income share was high among those in their 30s and 40s. The dual-income share among married households whose head is aged 30 to 39 was the highest at 63.3%. Those aged 40 to 49 also exceeded 60% at 61.3%. Those aged 50 to 59 stood at 58.6%, and those 60 and older at 32.2%.
Single-person households also continued to increase. Single-person households numbered 8.215 million last year, up 212,000 from the previous year. Of these, employed households numbered 5.198 million, up 98,000. However, the share of employed households among single-person households fell 0.4 percentage points to 63.3%.
In terms of wage levels for single-person wage earner households, the 2 million to under 3 million won bracket was the most common at 29.5%. The 3 million to under 4 million won bracket stood at 26.4%. Compared with the previous year, the share in the 2 million to under 3 million won bracket fell, while the shares in the 3 million to under 4 million won bracket and the 4 million won and above bracket rose.
