Income Inequalities between Age Groups in Europe and Their Change since 2008

Bernhard Hammer , Wittgenstein Centre (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU)
Sonja Spitzer, Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital
Alexia Fuernkranz-Prskawetz, TU Vienna, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics and VID/ÖAW

The paper measures and analyses age-specific income and its changes between 2008 and 2016 in European countries. First, we use aggregate economic data from the European System of Accounts to measure changes in gross and net income by type of income. Second, we use micro-data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions to analyse in detail how these changes affected men and women in distinct age groups. We show that the income of the younger age groups stagnated or declined since 2008, while it continued to increase for the older population. Causes are a stagnation or a decline in employment and real wages for the young, and an increase in pensions relative to primary incomes.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 36. Economics, Human Capital and Labor Markets