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Determinants of Household Earnings Inequality: The Role of Labour Market Trends and Changing Household Structure

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  • Wen Hao Chen
  • Michael Förster
  • Ana Llena-Nozal

Abstract

This article assesses various underlying driving factors for the evolution of household earnings inequality or 23 OECD countries from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s. There are a number of factors at play. Some are related to labour market trends – increasing dispersion of individual wages and changes in men’s and women’s employment rates. Others relate to shifts in household structures and family formation – more single-headed households and increased earnings correlation among partners in couples. The contribution of each of these factors is estimated using a semi parametric decomposition technique. The results reveal that marital sorting and household structure changes contributed, albeit moderately, to increasing household earnings inequality, while rising women’s employment exerted a sizable equalising effect. However, changes in labour market factors, in particular increases in men’s earnings disparities, were identified as the main driver of household earnings inequality, contributing between one-third and one-half to the overall increase in most countries. Sensitivity analysis applying a reversed-order decomposition suggests that these results are robust.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen Hao Chen & Michael Förster & Ana Llena-Nozal, 2013. "Determinants of Household Earnings Inequality: The Role of Labour Market Trends and Changing Household Structure," LIS Working papers 591, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:591
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    2. Inhoe Ku & Wonjin Lee & Seoyun Lee & Kyounghoon Han, 2018. "The Role of Family Behaviors in Determining Income Distribution: The Case of South Korea," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 877-899, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Earnings inequality; assortative mating; female labour supply; decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

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