Carlos Vacas-Soriano is a research manager in the employment unit at Eurofound. He works on wage and income inequalities, minimum wages, low pay, temporary employment and employment quality.
Extreme wealth concentration across the EU undermines opportunity and security for millions while property ownership becomes increasingly unattainable.
After years of being sidelined in the European policy debate as labour markets recovered in the wake of the Great Recession, inequality is back on the agenda.
Convergence of central and eastern-European EU members towards older ones with high minimum wages is much stronger than in the Mediterranean countries.
Raising wage floors is one way to reduce inequality and stimulate recovery in Europe. A big uplift in the Spanish minimum wage this year provides a test bed.
The Great Recession depressed real income levels across European countries. But the impact was very unequal across countries and income groups. Countries in the European
EU-wide income inequality declined notably prior to 2008, driven by a strong process of income convergence between European countries. The Great Recession broke this trend.
