This study employed the Gini coefficient decomposition analysis to classify and examine fishery household income inequality according to income sources. The raw data from the Fisheries Economic Survey by the National Statistical Office were used for the analysis after equalization according to the recommended method of the OECD. In particular, the Gini coefficient was decomposed by classifying with and without public subsidies, and the contribution, correlation, and marginal effect by income source were presented.As a result of the analysis, the inequality of fishing income and non-fishing income of fishermen was worsening, and the inequality of transfer income was continuously easing. Among them, fisheries subsidies have been analyzed to have the greatest contribution to the Gini coefficient of gross income and the highest relative marginal effect, although distribution inequality has been alleviated. On the other hand, other subsidies, including public pensions, were found to have the opposite contribution, correlation, and marginal effect to fisheries subsidies. The results of this analysis showed that even within public subsidies, the contribution to income redistribution might differ depending on the nature of the subsidy. In addition, in the case of other public subsidies, it can be seen that the transition from selective welfare to universal welfare occurs.

This study examines trends in the overall income inequality of fishery household from 2003 to 2012 with the panel data of the Fishery Household Economy Survey. To investigate the potential determinants of income inequality, we decomposes the Gini coefficients into five income sources, fishery income, nonfishery income(non-fishery business income, non-business income), transfer income, irregular income and calculate the impact of each income sources on total income inequality. An evident trend toward increasing inequality of household income was found. Also, we find rising fishery income and non-fishery income play important role in the rapid increase of income inequality. Only transfer income appear to reduce total income inequality.