Income inequalities in the accelerating digital era: Evidence from EU countries and COVID-time

Many research state that digitalization is mainly an opportunity, now more than ever. Digital firms are more productive, employ more skilled workers, and foresee more employment growth opportunities ahead. In 2020, the combined health and economic shocks have, however, accelerated the technology dri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Panoeconomicus 2023-01, Vol.70 (4), p.551-572
Main Authors: Woźniak-Jęchorek, Beata, Kuźmar, Sławomir
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Broadband communication systems
Connectivity
COVID-19
Digital divide
digital economy
Digital technology
Economic shock
Employment
Globalization
Human capital
Income distribution
Income inequality
inequalities
Integrated care
Internet
Internet access
Literature reviews
Pandemics
Public services
Skilled workers
Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
technological change
Technology
Trends
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Summary:Many research state that digitalization is mainly an opportunity, now more than ever. Digital firms are more productive, employ more skilled workers, and foresee more employment growth opportunities ahead. In 2020, the combined health and economic shocks have, however, accelerated the technology driven displacement of jobs, which can exacerbate existing inequalities in the coming years. The goal of this paper is to analyze changes in the scale of income inequalities over the last five years, ending in 2021 with respect to the pre-existing inequalities in access to ICTs (connectivity), differences in digital skills (human capital), integration of digital technology in enterprises and digital public services in EU countries. Our research indicates that in the short-term, the degree of inequality in EU27 nations grew more in countries with greater connectivity, as measured by access to broadband Internet. However, only the integration of digital technology in businesses and fundamental access to the Internet were linked to a greater reduction in the Gini index from 2017-2021.
ISSN:1452-595X
2217-2386
DOI:10.2298/PAN2304551W