COVID-19 and gender inequality in income: the impact of discretionary policy measures in Austria
JRC Working Papers on Taxation and Structural Reforms No 05/2021
This paper analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on household income in Austria, using detailed administrative labor market data, in combination with micro-simulation techniques, that enable specific labor market transitions to be modeled. We find that discretionary fiscal policy measures in Austria are key to counteracting the inequality- and poverty-enhancing effect of COVID-19. Additionally, we find that females tend to experience a greater loss in terms of market income. The Austrian tax-benefit system, however, reduces this gender differences. Disposable income has dropped by around 1% for both males and females. By comparison, males profit mainly from short-time work scheme, while females profit especially from other discretionary policy measures, such as the one-off payment for children.
CHRISTL Michael;
DE POLI Silvia;
KUCSERA Dénes;
LORENZ Hanno;
Christl, M., De Poli, S., Kucsera, D. and Lorenz, H., COVID-19 and gender inequality in income: the impact of discretionary policy measures in Austria, European Commission, 2021, JRC125105.
2021-07-26
European Commission
JRC125105
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