The Distribution of Income in Ireland (2000) - Combat Poverty Agency

26 The Distribution of Income in Irelandthose relying on social welfare lagged behind the overall meanbetween 1994 and 1997, the size of that group declined significantlyfrom 30 per cent to 24 per cent of the sample, reducingthe between-group component of inequality.These decomposition results clearly provide valuable insightsinto the structure of income inequality in Ireland and howit has been changing. This is approached from another perspectivein the next section, where we look at where differenttypes of household tend to be located in the income distributionand how that has been evolving.3.5 WHO IS WHERE IN THE INCOME DISTRIBUTION?We begin by looking at the location of persons in the incomedistribution categorised by the age of the head of the householdin which they live, and focus on the proportion falling intoeach quintile of the disposable equivalised income distributionamong persons. (We employ quintiles — successive one-fifthsof the distribution — rather than deciles in order to see theoverall pattern more easily.) We see first in Figure 3.2 thatpeople in households headed by someone aged between 35and 64 were spread rather evenly over the quintiles in both1994 and 1997. In 1994 those in households headed by someoneaged under 35 were relatively heavily concentrated in boththe bottom and the top quintile, but by 1997 they were moreconcentrated at the top. In 1994 those in households headed bysomeone aged 65 or over were heavily concentrated in thesecond quintile from the bottom. By 1997, however, the proportionat the top of the distribution had fallen and the numbersin the bottom quintile had risen markedly. The short periodbetween 1994 and 1997 thus saw a considerable change at boththe top and bottom of the distribution, to the advantage ofyounger households and the disadvantage of older ones.The Distribution of Income in the 1990s 27Figure 3.2: Position in the Income Distribution of PersonsCategorised by Age of Household Head, 1994 and 1997 LITSurveys*199445 Y'403530- '25-20H$^H18-1050Head Aged Under Head Aged 35-64 Head Aged 65 or35 Over45403530252015105ni1997i £ a0Head Aged Under Head Aged 35-64 Head Aged 65 or35 Over* See Table A2.2 in Appendix 2 for data.• Bottom02S3• 4DTop• Bottom• 2S3• 4DTopTable 3.9 distinguishes those living in households headed by acouple or a single man and those headed by a woman. We seethat the latter are significantly more heavily concentrated towardsthe bottom of the income distribution, and that their proportionin the bottom quintile increased from one-quarter toover one-third between 1994 and 1997.