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05 July 2021 In 2020, the year of the pandemic, the average labor income of the working-age population (18-64 years) in the EU decreased by 7% compared to 2019. However, the average disposable household income and the risk of poverty remained stable at European level, but with different trends between countries and Italy among those where the increase in the at-risk-of-poverty rate was highest.
This was announced by Eurostat, which today released the first estimates on income inequality in 2020. "The losses affecting income from work - reads the Eurostat note - are largely due to the unprecedented increase in the number of absent workers from work or shorter hours. However, the usual government transfers and taxes, as well as temporary policies, have helped offset the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on households' disposable income ".
"These temporary regimes - underlines Eurostat - have played an important role in stabilizing the wages and income of families, especially for those with lower incomes. Although low-income people have been most affected by the Covid-19 crisis, these temporary workers have helped to compensate for their loss of income. The salary benefits follow a progressive distribution, being higher for those with lower incomes ".
At the EU level, household disposable income and the at-risk-of-poverty rate remained stable in 2020, but the situation varied between EU member states. Compared to 2019, among Member States with statistically significant data, the largest increases in the at-risk-of-poverty rate of the working-age population were observed in Spain, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Greece. In about half of the Member States, the at-risk-of-poverty rate remained stable in 2020, while it decreased in Estonia.