Wage Share as a Factor of Income Inequality in the Context of the Structure of National Economy

This paper focuses on the quantitative examination of the wage share in the countries of the EU from 2008 to 2012, applying a division of national economy by three main sectors. The aim of the paper is to investigate the effect of employment structure and its changes, and the changes of the wage share inside the sectors on the aggregate wage share and its alterations during a short-term period. The conducted research showed that the levels of the weighted wage share, corresponding to the employment structure, were: the lowest – in agriculture, the highest – in the service sector. Furthermore, the shift of the aggregate wage share was mostly affected by the decline in the primary and secondary sectors, which was generally based on the decrease of employed people. The results also displayed that in several countries the wage shares declined because of the reduction of the wages and salaries rather than value-added