Browsing by Author "Lahdenkauppi, Lina-Lotta"

This thesis studies lifetime earnings inequality in Finland using a unique dataset based on administrative data from the Finnish Centre for Pensions. I analyse intragenerational lifetime earnings, their distribution and mobility of individual’s in the earnings distribution over the life cycle to determine whether Finnish cohorts are becoming more or less equal based on their lifetime earnings. In addition, I examine the association between current and lifetime earnings over the life cycle. The analysis includes nine cohorts born every five years between 1940 and 1980. Altogether 4 140 individuals are included in the analysis (n=4 140). However, since the cohort-specific sample sizes are extremely small against sample sizes used in present-day research, results have to be interpreted with caution. Results concerning the evolution of intragenerational lifetime earnings inequality differ between men and women. Results for men indicate that no clear increasing or decreasing trend can be declared over the evolution of intragenerational lifetime earnings inequality. However, the Gini coefficients of lifetime earnings defined up-to age-39 suggest that the 1970 and 1975 cohorts are experiencing higher levels of inequality than the older cohorts born in the 1950s. Findings for women, in contrast, imply a decreasing trend in the evolution of intragenerational lifetime earnings inequality between successive cohorts. Based on the results, younger female cohorts are experiencing less intragenerational lifetime earnings inequality than older cohorts. Findings concerning the association between current and lifetime earnings demonstrate that annual and lifetime earnings are highly correlated between ages 40 and 50 for men. Likewise, annual and lifetime earnings are highly correlated between ages 45 and 55 for women. Annual earnings can be considered a good proxy for lifetime earnings between these age brackets for men and women respectively.