In its latest update on income inequality, the OECD has noted that the economic recovery underway has only led to gradual improvements in labour markets and household incomes.
And it says the recovery has not yet delivered inclusive growth, nor has it reveresed the trend towards increasing income inequality.
Although they did not single out New Zealand for any special mention in their analysis, New Zealand is included in their data summaries.
And in Panel B, New Zealand stands out as one of the few countries that between 2010 and 2014 where those on the bottom 10% of incomes made significant gains in the period (more than +10%) while those on the top 10% only gained a quarter of that (see page 2).
The Report allows us to benchmark New Zealand results against the usual countries we like to measure ourselves against. Here are three such benchmarks:
The Gini coefficient (sometimes expressed as a Gini ratio or a normalised Gini index) is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation's residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality.
You read this data where 1 = "one person has all the income" and 0 = "everyone has the same income". So a lower score indicates a more equal distribution.
| Gini coefficient | 2007 | 2012 | 2014 | 2007-2014 change |
| Australia | 0.338 | 0.326 | 0.337 | -0.001 |
| Canada | 0.318 | 0.321 | 0.322 | +0.004 |
| Germany | 0.285 | 0.289 | 0.292 | +0.007 |
| Ireland | 0.305 | 0.304 | 0.309 | +0.004 |
| Netherlands | 0.298 | 0.280 | 0.283 | -0.015 |
| New Zealand | 0.330 | 0.323 | 0.333 | +0.003 |
| Norway | 0.250 | 0.253 | 0.252 | +0.002 |
| Sweden | 0.259 | 0.274 | 0.281 | +0.022 |
| UK | 0.373 | 0.351 | 0.358 | -0.015 |
| USA | 0.374 | 0.396 | 0.394 | +0.020 |
| OECD average | 0.317 | 0.316 | 0.318 | -0.001 |
Disposable income adjusted for household size
The S80/S20 income share ratio refers to the ratio of average income of the top 20% to the average incoem of the bottom 20% of the income distribution. Lower is better.
| S80/S20 income share ratio | 2007 | 2012 | 2014 | 2007-2014 change |
| % | % | % | ||
| Australia | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.7 | -0.1 |
| Canada | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.5 | +0.2 |
| Germany | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.4 | +0.1 |
| Ireland | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.8 | +0.1 |
| Netherlands | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | -0.1 |
| New Zealand | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 0.0 |
| Norway | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.8 | +0.1 |
| Sweden | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.2 | +0.3 |
| UK | 6.6 | 5.9 | 6.0 | -0.6 |
| USA | 7.9 | 8.6 | 8.7 | +0.8 |
| OECD average | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.5 | +0.1 |
Poverty measures
The poverty threshhold is 50% of median disposble income for each country. In this table, lower is better.
The working poor are those with income below the poverty line, living in households with a working aged head and at least one worker.
| Poverty rate | 2007 | 2012 | 2014 | 2007-2014 change |
Working poor (2014) |
| % | % | % | % | % | |
| Australia | 14.9 | 14.0 | 12.8 | -2.1 | 4.8 |
| Canada | 12.2 | 12.8 | 12.6 | +0.4 | 9.8 |
| Germany | 9.0 | 8.4 | 9.1 | +0.1 | 3.5 |
| Ireland | 9.6 | 8.4 | 8.9 | -0.7 | 4.3 |
| Netherlands | 6.6 | 7.9 | 8.4 | +1.8 | 6.9 |
| New Zealand | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.9 | -1.1 | 4.7 |
| Norway | 7.8 | 8.1 | 7.8 | +0.0 | 6.2 |
| Sweden | 8.4 | 9.0 | 8.8 | +0.4 | 5.7 |
| UK | 12.8 | 10.5 | 10.4 | -2.4 | 5.8 |
| USA | 17.4 | 17.2 | 17.5 | +0.1 | 11.5 |
| OECD average | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.5 | +0.1 | 8.3 |
The full OECD Report is here.
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