ACCOUNTING FOR INEQUALITY TRENDS - DECOMPOSITION ANALYSES FOR THE UK, 1971-86

Eight explanations for UK income inequality trends between 1971 and 1986 are assessed by pooling evidence from inequality index decompositions by population sub-group and by income source. The principal causes of the aggregate trends were a mixture of changes in earnings inequality, employment structure and unemployment, but this mixture changed over time. The impact of wage inequality changes on income inequality changes fell during the 1970s and 1980s, reflecting the secular decline in the importance of employment earnings for household income packages. Unemployment changes had their largest impact at the start of the 1980s. Between 1981 and 1986 self-employment income changes appear to have had the largest influence.