Why does Australia have low income concentration?

[buritobr]

In 1980, the top 1% of Australia earned 4.6% of the national income. This is skandinavian level. The income concentration increased in the last four decades, and now, the top 1% of Australia earns 9.1% of the national income. However, this is lower than it is in other English language countries.
Why is inequality in Australia low if we compare to other countries?

http://wid.world/share/#0/countriestimeseries/sptinc_p99p100_z/US;GB;AU;CA;SE/last/eu/k/p/yearly/s/false/2.8705/30/curve/false

[GoTfan]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions.

[john1565]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions.

Then every country should follow this. Also, Australia should try to decrease that percentage to around 4% again!

[AustralianSwingVoter]

The spirit of egalitarianism and the fair go run deep throughout Australia.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Whatever causes this, it is the envy of a lot of Irish, British and Indian skilled workers who flock here in droves.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Hypothesis: the gact that neoliberalism was introduced by the Labor government in alliance with the unions meant that it was less confrontational, and therefore more egalitarian than Thatcherism/Reaganism?

[parochial boy]

According to the OECD it has a GINI coefficient of 0.337, which is better than every Anglophone country other than Canada, but slightly below average in comparison to developed countries as a whole.

[mvd10]

Hypothesis: the gact that neoliberalism was introduced by the Labor government in alliance with the unions meant that it was less confrontational, and therefore more egalitarian than Thatcherism/Reaganism?

Any statistics on New Zealand then? I've always assumed NZ was more egalitarian than other Anglo-Saxon countries so perhaps that can confirm the hypothesis.

[Indy Texas]

The spirit of egalitarianism and the fair go run deep throughout Australia.

Tell that to the aborigines.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

The spirit of egalitarianism and the fair go run deep throughout Australia.

Tell that to the aborigines.

Australia's nothing if not hypocritical with regards to the Aboriginals.

[Del Tachi]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

[AtorBoltox]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

You don't know much about Australia, do you?

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

[Del Tachi]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

Where on earth did you get this number, unless you're counting most Asians as "White", which is ridiculous. About 15% of Australians are of Asian ethnicity to begin with.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

Only around 70% of Australians are of British (British+English+Welsh+Scottish+Irish) ancestry, and that number rapidly falls at each census.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

Australia is just as white as western Europe, and no contest with regards to the east. The Baltics are all 99% white, and the rest of the former soviet bloc is similarly, though not quite as monolithically, overwhelmingly white.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

And finally, with regards to heritage you can, and are encouraged to, nominate multiple heritages. Although around 70% of Australians claim British heritage, about 20% inherit that heritage from only one parent, and only about 20% claim solely British heritage.

[Del Tachi]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

Where on earth did you get this number, unless you're counting most Asians as "White", which is ridiculous. About 15% of Australians are of Asian ethnicity to begin with.

The ABS reported the top ten ancestries of Australians in 2016.

English - 36.1%
Australian - 33.5% (which the ABS describes as "Anglo-Celtic")
Irish - 11.0%
Scottish - 9.3%
Chinese - 5.6%
Italian - 4.6%
German - 4.5%
Indian - 2.8%
Greek - 1.8%
Dutch - 1.6%

The first four, which are all 'British' ancestries, sum to 89.9%. 

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

Where on earth did you get this number, unless you're counting most Asians as "White", which is ridiculous. About 15% of Australians are of Asian ethnicity to begin with.

The ABS reported the top ten ancestries of Australians in 2016.

English - 36.1%
Australian - 33.5% (which the ABS describes as "Anglo-Celtic")
Irish - 11.0%
Scottish - 9.3%
Chinese - 5.6%
Italian - 4.6%
German - 4.5%
Indian - 2.8%
Greek - 1.8%
Dutch - 1.6%

The first four, which are all 'British' ancestries, sum to 89.9%. 

About half of those who identify as Australian are anything but "Anglo-Celtic". People who identify as Australian are either patriots, those who can trace all their ancestors to the first, second, third Fleet, and have no real linkage to their distant British heritage, almost all Aboriginal people, because if anyone is Australian, they are, and second, third generation migrants who identify both as the ancestry and Australian.

[Mr. Morden]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

Where on earth did you get this number, unless you're counting most Asians as "White", which is ridiculous. About 15% of Australians are of Asian ethnicity to begin with.

The ABS reported the top ten ancestries of Australians in 2016.

English - 36.1%
Australian - 33.5% (which the ABS describes as "Anglo-Celtic")
Irish - 11.0%
Scottish - 9.3%
Chinese - 5.6%
Italian - 4.6%
German - 4.5%
Indian - 2.8%
Greek - 1.8%
Dutch - 1.6%

The first four, which are all 'British' ancestries, sum to 89.9%. 

The fact that the first four sum to 90% should tell you that the total sum of all of them is over 100%.  That's because people can pick more than one category at a time, if they have multiple ancestries.  Hence, you can't simply sum up all the "white" categories to get the white %age of the population, because you don't know which ones are being double counted.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

A high minimum wage and strong workers' unions A population that is largely racially and ethnically homogeneous.

FTFY

Yeah, NO. We are, as Malcolm constantly says, the most successful multicultural country in the world.

Australians are over 90% White.  That's Whiter than most European countries.

Something like 84% of Australians claim heritage that is primarily associated with the British Isles, even.

Where on earth did you get this number, unless you're counting most Asians as "White", which is ridiculous. About 15% of Australians are of Asian ethnicity to begin with.

The ABS reported the top ten ancestries of Australians in 2016.

English - 36.1%
Australian - 33.5% (which the ABS describes as "Anglo-Celtic")
Irish - 11.0%
Scottish - 9.3%
Chinese - 5.6%
Italian - 4.6%
German - 4.5%
Indian - 2.8%
Greek - 1.8%
Dutch - 1.6%

The first four, which are all 'British' ancestries, sum to 89.9%. 

The fact that the first four sum to 90% should tell you that the total sum of all of them is over 100%.  That's because people can pick more than one category at a time, if they have multiple ancestries.  Hence, you can't simply sum up all the "white" categories to get the white %age of the population, because you don't know which ones are being double counted.

A lot of people pick Australian as their second ancestry, due to patriotism and national pride. This sentiment is particularly common in the migrant community.

[rob in cal]

  But one interesting question is what amount of low-skill, low-educational attainment type immigration has Australia been attracting, or allowed into the country.  I think that might have some type of relationship to the question at hand.

[mileslunn]

Inequality in Australia is similar to Canada and I don't think it is too far off New Zealand.  It's much less than the United States, but the US unlike most developed countries has a very weak social safety net so less assistance to those at the bottom while minimum wage is higher in Australia and unions are stronger there although weaker than Canada and the UK.  UK has a strong social class system so even with government efforts at re-distribution, the class system is a lot more entrenched than it is in Australia thus the reason it is worse.  Compared to most Western European countries, Australia's inequality is actually on the high side; only UK and Mediterranean countries are as bad or worse.

[Karpatsky]

What does ethnic homogeneity have to do with income concentration anyways?