As discussed in the previous post, I have used income data from the IRD, and excluded people who I knew were definitely working part-time.The following results were obtained using excel:
Year
|
Gini Coefficient
|
2001
|
0.356
|
2002
|
0.360
|
2003
|
0.353
|
2004
|
0.355
|
2005
|
0.353
|
2006
|
0.342
|
2007
|
0.320
|
2008
|
0.318
|
2009
|
0.314
|
As we discussed in the last post, a higher Gini value indicates higher inequality. From the table and chart we can see that income inequality has fallen in the last ten years, particularly in the period from 2005 to 2009.
The New Zealand Institute, the privately funded think-tank have also provided data on inequality and Gini Coefficients. Their figures roughly correspond to my own figures (Which is hugely encouraging from my own standpoint, I know my calculations are correct). The NZ Institute have compared our Gini figure to the rest of the OECD, where in terms of equality, we rank 25 out of 34 (http://www.nzinstitute.org/index.php/nzahead/measures/income_inequality/).
So although equality has improved in recent years, there is still some work to do to catch up with the rest of the developed world. The NZ Institute link above has some great information for those wanting to know more about Inequality in New Zealand.
I don't really want to draw any conclusions over these figures, but the downward trend is encouraging. I need to point out that data I have used is far from perfect. For starters I have effectively excluded any unemployed individuals, as on the dole they would not earn enough to enter my analysis (discussed in the previous post).
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to make a comment. In the next post I will stop talking about inequality for a while and will discuss a few minor issues I have with Statistics New Zealand.
Bye
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