INCOME INEQUALITY OF HOUSEHOLDS IN SLOVAKIA

In the last decades, income inequality has been a global phenomenon, and the social problem associated with unemployment, deprivation, and poverty. As a consequence of increasing income inequality, the middle-income group has been disappearing. OECD statistics show that the income of the upper decile of population is nine times higher than the income of the lower decile. The income gap between men and women is also a part of income inequality. Nowadays, women's income is 16% lower than men's. The main goal of this paper is to analyse and compare income distribution and its structure in Slovak households using Households Finance and Consumption Survey data. In this paper, the differences in income between households with a woman as a reference person and households with a man in the position of reference person are pointed out. Results confirmed the higher income of households with a man as a reference person in all three waves of the survey. The difference was recorded in the structure of income as well. The share of employee income and self-employment income on the monthly gross income was greater in households with men as a reference person, while the share of pension income and the regular private transfer was higher in households in which women were in the position of the reference person.