About 1 million households in South Korea received a total of 421 billion won ($361 million) in employment promotion allowance for the first half of this year, government data showed Wednesday.

The allowance for employment promotion has been offered to low-income workers since 2009 as part of the government's initiative to narrow wage inequality.

During the January-June period, 960,000 households received an average 440,000 won per home in employment promotion allowance, the National Tax Service said in a statement. 

Single-person households accounted for 60.4 percent of the total recipients, according to the data.

In March, a presidential advisory body drafted a proposal for a new state allowance for job seekers in low-income households.

The Economic, Social and Labor Council urged the government to pay a fixed employment promotion allowance every month to such job seekers for six months on the condition that they participate in employment programs.

The proposal called for the new allowance to be paid to jobless people who belong to households earning less than half the nation's median income before being gradually expanded to include more beneficiaries.

The council said the monthly allowance should be set at a level that guarantees a minimum livelihood. (Yonhap)