Regional Patterns and Perceptions of Social Inequalities in Europe
Work package leader: CETRO
In WP03 LOCALISE contributes to a better understanding of the material bases for the well-being of Europeans by the analysis of regional income and employment inequalities and by multivariate and multilevel analyses of the socio-economic factors shaping regional and national patterns of income inequalities in Europe. Research in WP03 splits into three sub-objectives:
• We provide an overview on recent patterns and subjective perceptions of income inequalities in European regions and countries thus providing a quantitative basis for the debates on the risks for social cohesion.
• We describe the influence of regional contextual factors on income and employment inequalities.
• Finally, we analyse the explanatory factors and the subjective perception of social inequalities in Europe (thus preparing also the analysis of the situation of the most vulnerable target groups which is at the core of WP07).
In contrast to most studies, we will not use only regional or national average data but micro-data at the individual level and their distributions. Thus, we will make use of the information on individual income, employment and other social inequalities in micro data sets (especially the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) which is currently the most important European-wide source for income data and the European Household Panel which is available until 2001 for the former member states), the European Social Survey and the Labour Force Survey). In WP03 LOCALISE contributes to a better understanding of the material bases for the well-being of Europeans by the analysis of regional income and employment inequalities and by multivariate and multilevel analyses of the socio-economic factors shaping regional and national patterns of income inequalities in Europe. Research in WP03 splits into three sub-objectives:
• We provide an overview on recent patterns and subjective perceptions of income inequalities in European regions and countries thus providing a quantitative basis for the debates on the risks for social cohesion.
• We describe the influence of regional contextual factors on income and employment inequalities.
• Finally, we analyse the explanatory factors and the subjective perception of social inequalities in Europe (thus preparing also the analysis of the situation of the most vulnerable target groups which is at the core of WP07). In contrast to most studies, we will not use only regional or national average data but micro-data at the individual level and their distributions. Thus, we will make use of the information on individual income, employment and other social inequalities in micro data sets (especially the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) which is currently the most important European-wide source for income data and the European Household Panel which is available until 2001 for the former member states), the European Social Survey and the Labour Force Survey).
The research in WP03 will be co-ordinated and conducted by CETRO. On the basis of individual income and employment data which are available in recent European micro data sets, LOCALISE analyses the income and employment inequalities, their dynamics and the regional and national factors shaping them for European countries and regions. The most important data sets are the new EU Survey on Income and living conditions (EU-SILC) which is available since 2005 for 24 countries (EU27 without Malta, Bulgaria and Romania) and the Labour Force Survey. Where possible, we will analyse the regional patters of individual inequalities instead of regional or national averages. In this way, it will be possible to analyse the regional distribution of income and employment possibilities in Europe, the contextual factors explaining these inequalities, the situation of the most challenged social groups and the subjective perception of social risks.
• At first we analyse the structure of regional income and employment inequalities in Europe.
• In a second step these inequalities will be explained by the regional and national context, for example the qualificational structure, the employment shares of advanced and other industrial and service sectors. The contextual factors at the regional and national level which will be used to explain the patterns and dynamics of individual income and employment data are available in the REGIO data base of EUROSTAT and the ESPON data sets. On this basis, different multilevel analyses, especially multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions can be calculated.
• In the next step, the subjective perception of inequality can be analysed within the limits of the available data on the basis of the SILC and ESS data. It will be examined to what extent the subjective well-being of Europeans is affected by income inequalities and with which groups of reference the Europeans compare themselves.
• Finally, in preparation for qualitative case studies (WP04) we will rank NUTS-II regions within their nation-states according to the level of social inequality in order to identify best-, average- and under-performing regions.
Please find here a paper on Income Ineqaulities in Europe, based on the research conducted in the framework of WP3.