Ireland's wage gap narrowed after recession, claims new report
Ireland's wage gap has narrowed in the years since the financial crisis, according to a new report from the ESRI.
The Distribution of Income and the Public Finances report.
The report pointed to a lack of change in the Irish welfare system, as well as fewer people earning higher salaries, for the results of the study.
“The bursting of the property market bubble affected those at the top of the income distribution, especially those who earned most of their income from property related activities, resulting in a big fall in numbers of high earners, reducing income inequality,” the report stated.
“The massive rise in numbers unemployed in the period to 2012 moved a lot of people towards the bottom of the income distribution, tending to increase inequality. However, the maintenance of the welfare floor relatively unchanged, in spite of the crisis, provided significant support for this group of people. “
However, research professor with the think tank, John Fitzgerald, says it is not as simple as saying that some groups in society were protected from the worst of the crisis.
"Because of the heavy loss of income among high earners and the major reduction in the numbers employed throughout the economy, the burden of increased taxation had to be carried by those on middle incomes," said the ESRI’s John Fitzgerald.
