IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/opques/qef_806_23.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Labour income inequality and in-work poverty: a comparison between euro area countries

Author

Listed:
  • Giulia Bovini

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Emanuele Ciani

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Marta De Philippis
  • Stefania Romano

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

We study inequality in gross labour income among the working-age population, comparing Italy to the other main euro area countries. We use EU-SILC data between 2008 and 2018, the longest period without time breaks. We show that inequality in individual labour income is higher in Italy than in France and Germany. This is mainly a consequence of the lower employment rate, i.e. of the higher share of working-age individuals with no labour income, rather than of wider earnings disparities among workers. Inequality in equivalised household labour income is also higher in Italy than in France in Germany because a lower employment rate translates into a larger share of single or no-earner households. In line with these findings, while in Italy low-earning workers are relatively few, they face a greater risk of poverty than in France or Germany, since they more often live in households where other members are not employed or have low-work-intensity jobs. These results stress the importance of jointly considering earnings and employment dynamics when analysing labour income inequality, low-pay work, and in-work poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulia Bovini & Emanuele Ciani & Marta De Philippis & Stefania Romano, 2023. "Labour income inequality and in-work poverty: a comparison between euro area countries," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 806, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_806_23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2023-0806/QEF_806_23.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philip Du Caju & Erwan Gautier & Daphne Momferatu & Melanie Ward-Warmedinger, 2009. "Institutional Features of Wage Bargaining in 23 European Countries, the US and Japan," Ekonomia, Cyprus Economic Society and University of Cyprus, vol. 12(2), pages 57-108, Winter.
    2. Manuel Arellano & Stéphane Bonhomme & Micole De Vera & Laura Hospido & Siqi Wei, 2022. "Income risk inequality: Evidence from Spanish administrative records," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1747-1801, November.
    3. Adamopoulou Effrosyni & Bobbio Emmanuele & Philippis Marta De & Giorgi Federico, 2019. "Reallocation and the Role of Firm Composition Effects on Aggregate Wage Dynamics," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, June.
    4. Andrea Brandolini & Eliana Viviano, 2016. "Behind and beyond the (head count) employment rate," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 179(3), pages 657-681, June.
    5. Francesca Carta, 2020. "Timely Indicators for Inequality and Poverty Using the Italian Labour Force Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 41-65, May.
    6. Anthony F. Shorrocks, 1983. "The Impact of Income Components on the Distribution of Family Incomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(2), pages 311-326.
    7. Ruta Aidis & Saul Estrin & Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2012. "Size matters: entrepreneurial entry and government," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 119-139, July.
    8. Emanuele Ciani & Roberto Torrini, 2019. "The Geography of Italian Income Inequality: Recent Trends and the Role of Employment," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 173-208.
    9. Barton H. Hamilton, 2000. "Does Entrepreneurship Pay? An Empirical Analysis of the Returns to Self-Employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 604-631, June.
    10. Andrea Brandolini & Piero Cipollone & Paolo Sestito, 2001. "Earnings Dispersion, Low Pay and Household Poverty in Italy, 1977-1998," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 427, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    11. Elias Karagiannis & Milorad Kovacevic', 2000. "A Method to Calculate the Jackknife Variance Estimator For the Gini Coefficient," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 62(1), pages 119-122, February.
    12. Eran B. Hoffmann & Davide Malacrino & Luigi Pistaferri, 2022. "Earnings dynamics and labor market reforms: The Italian case," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1637-1667, November.
    13. repec:bla:obuest:v:62:y:2000:i:1:p:119-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Andrea Brandolini & Alfonso Rosolia & Roberto Torrini, 2011. "The distribution of employees’ labour earnings in the European Union: Data, concepts and first results," Working Papers 198, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    15. Michele Raitano, 2016. "Income Inequality in Europe Since the Crisis," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 51(2), pages 67-72, March.
    16. Andrea Brandolini & Romina Gambacorta & Alfonso Rosolia, 2018. "Inequality amid income stagnation: Italy over the last quarter of a century," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 442, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesca Carta, 2020. "Timely Indicators for Inequality and Poverty Using the Italian Labour Force Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 41-65, May.
    2. Franecsca Carta, 2019. "Timely indicators for labour income inequality," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 503, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Veronique Genre & Karsten Kohn & Daphne Momferatou, 2011. "Understanding inter-industry wage structures in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(11), pages 1299-1313.
    4. Michele Lenza & Jiri Slacalek, 2024. "How does monetary policy affect income and wealth inequality? Evidence from quantitative easing in the euro area," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(5), pages 746-765, August.
    5. repec:osf:socarx:b2yue_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Jose Garcia-Louzao & Linas Tarasonis, 2025. "Earnings Inequality and Risk over Two Decades of Economic Development in Lithuania," GRAPE Working Papers 105, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    7. Fatih Guvenen & Luigi Pistaferri & Giovanni L. Violante, 2022. "Global trends in income inequality and income dynamics: New insights from GRID," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1321-1360, November.
    8. Bavaro, Michele & Raitano, Michele, 2024. "Is working enough to escape poverty? Evidence on low-paid workers in Italy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 495-511.
    9. Marco Paccagnella, 2015. "Skills and Wage Inequality: Evidence from PIAAC," OECD Education Working Papers 114, OECD Publishing.
    10. Demetrio Guzzardi & Salvatore Morelli, 2024. "A New Geography of Inequality: Top incomes in Italian Regions and Inner Areas," LEM Papers Series 2024/16, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    11. Heshmati, Almas, 2004. "A Review of Decomposition of Income Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 1221, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Deng, Wei & Liang, Qiao Zhuan & Fan, Pei Hua, 2019. "Complements or substitutes? Configurational effects of entrepreneurial activities and institutional frameworks on social well-being," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 194-205.
    13. Bavaro, Michele & Tullio, Federico, 2024. "A cycle or a tunnel? A study on unemployment and low-pay dynamics in Italy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Søren Leth‐Petersen & Johan Sæverud, 2022. "Inequality and dynamics of earnings and disposable income in Denmark 1987–2016," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(4), pages 1493-1526, November.
    15. Salverda, Wiemer & Checchi, Daniele, 2014. "Labour-Market Institutions and the Dispersion of Wage Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 8220, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Flavio Delbono, 2020. "Le diseguaglianze in Italia nella stagione del Covid-19," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(111), pages 73-86.
    17. Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Lequien, Matthieu & Stantcheva, Stefanie, 2017. "Tax simplicity and heterogeneous learning," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86613, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla, 2017. "The Causal Factors of International Inequality in $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions Per Capita: A Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 683-700, August.
    19. Hårsman, Björn & Mattsson, Lars-Göran, 2019. "Reconsidering the returns to entrepreneurship: Applying a modified version of Lazear’s occupational choice model," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 478, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    20. Hans K. Hvide & Benjamin F. Jones, 2018. "University Innovation and the Professor's Privilege," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1860-1898, July.
    21. Maria Kravtsova & Aleksey Oshchepkov, 2019. "Market And Network Corruption," HSE Working papers WP BRP 209/EC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_806_23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.