Unemployment is rising sharply and will increase the number of people living below the poverty line from 23 million to 40 million during the course of 1998. In Korea, bankruptcies and unemployment are on the rise. Eight of the thirty biggest conglomerates (chaebol) have filed for liquidation. Unemployment is expected to increase from 500,000 last year to 1.2 million workers soon.
Remittances averaged about $ billion per year, or 0.2 percent of GDP, over the decade before the crisis. After the balance sheet is normalized, these remittances should return to a similar, modest share of GDP. From the standpoint of the sustainability of federal fiscal policy, remittances are not a first-order concern.