While in 2014, the year of the study, saw a slight decrease in the level of earnings inequality, there remained “a very significant asymmetry relative to the 10 percent of the population with the highest resources in comparison with the other classes of earnings,” the report detailed before indicating “employment and more education mean higher earnings.”
The report said that monetary income for the 10 percent of the adult population with the greatest resources, with an annual average income of €26,127, was 10.6 times greater than the average earned by the 10 percent of the population with the lowest level of resources, on an average of €2,469 annually.
“The analysis of equivalent average earnings by class between 2004 and 2014 finds not only inequality between the extremes of distribution but also the permanent asymmetry in the earnings of those with the greatest resources as regards the remaining classes,” the report detailed.
“Not only did over 40 percent of the unemployed population live in 2014 with earnings below the poverty line (€422 /month), but also 67.4 percent lived with earnings equivalent or below €610 monthly.”
In terms of the employed, over 70 percent pulled in salaries in excess of €610 per month with 50 percent of these paid more than €800 per month with over half the population that graduated from high school making the two highest classes of earnings.
In the 20 percent of the population with the highest levels of earning in 2014, thus above €1,110 per month, 57.5 percent held a higher education qualification.
With regards to retirees, 41 percent received pensions of below €610, with the remainder reasonably equitably split across the three higher classes of earnings.
A quarter of all children and young people live in households with earnings of below €428 per month, which“reflects the relatively unfavourable conditions of households with children.”
Regarding gender inequality, women experienced the greatest level of pay discrepancies in both the classes with the lowest earnings (below €610 per month) and the 20 percent of the population with the highest income (above €1,110 per month).