Income inequality in an industrial city during the great levelling: micro level evidence from malmö, 1900–1950

Figures & data

Figure 1. Top income shares in Malmö, 1900, 1920 and 1950. Note. Individual-level calculation. Based on Bengtsson, Molinder and Prado’s (2022) national dataset, which includes a random sample of taxpayers in Malmö. The calculations for 1900 and 1920 include imputing an income of 400 kr for non-taxpayers.

Table 1. Share of coverage in the tax records for Södervärn and Möllevången in 1905 and 1920.

	1905	1920
Total in tax records	272	261
Total in church books/census	464	368
Total share (%) included in tax records	59	71
Share (%) of women in tax records	28	55
Share (%) of men in tax records	88	88

Note. The sources are, (a) for the number of people paying tax, the tax records from the Malmö city archive, for the Södervärn quarter Abel and the Möllevången quarters Fanan, Gillet and Hagen. And (b) for the number of people in total, the church books (which were the basis of the census), studied from the digitalised books of Malmö St. Johannes church.

Table 2. Mean incomes of the top 10, middle 40 and bottom 50 in 1900, 1920 and 1950.

	Nominal			Real (1900 prices)
	1900	1920	1950	1900	1920	1950
Top 10%	5 141	13 225	17 420	5 141	4 529	5 049
Middle 40%	1 048	3 496	6 248	1 048	1 197	1 811
Bottom 50%	487	896	2 234	487	309	647
All 100% mean	1 176	3 167	5 944	1 176	1 086	1 723
All 100% median	747	2 000	5 020	747	685	1 432

Note. Builds on the random sample. Adjustment in year 1900 assuming 70% taxpayers and in 1920 assuming 80% taxpayers, and that non-filers earned 400 kr. The CPI was 3.26 times higher in 1920 compared to 1900, and 3.13 times higher in 1950 (Edvinsson & Söderberg, 2011). Since prices moved quicker than wages, we have used five year averages of the CPI for the CPI adjustment. The adjustment factors are then 2.92 and 3.45.

Table 3. Income per social group, 1900–1950.

		1900	1920	1950
Social group I	Mean	5 828	5 336	5 250
	Median	4 671	3 425	3 307
	N	33	85	295
Social group II	Mean	2144	2 182	2 172
	Median	1200	1 445	1 899
	N	260	481	1 116
Social group III	Mean	682	729	1 512
	Median	600	579	1 525
	N	526 + 372	2 056 + 682	2 834

Note. Building on the random sample. The figures include the imputed incomes of non-taxpayers in 1900 and 1920. Adjusted to price levels of 1900 (in five-year averages) based on the price index by Edvinsson and Söderberg (2011).

Table 4. The incomes of the working class in Malmö, 1920 and 1950, real terms.

	1920			1950
	% of group III	average	median	% of group III	average
Skilled industry worker	8.0	1453	1158	10.7	1819	1858
Unskilled industry worker	32.9	820	771	21.9	1348	1319
Services worker	20.0	922	719	28.6	1385	1297
Domestic services worker	7.3	336	342	4.5	851	813
Construction worker	7.5	1062	1027	11.2	1988	2042
Transport worker	13.5	1314	1332	17.6	1668	1699
Worker in unknown sector/other	10.7	746	777	5.5	1489	1552

Note. Note that only taxpayers are coded; in previous calculations we have imputed incomes of non-taxpayers but by definition we would not know the profession of these people, so they are not included here. This means that the share who were especially domestic service workers and unskilled workers in industry and services is likely understated here. See also discussion of Table 5. Incomes in 1900 prices (five-year averages), building on CPI from Edvinsson and Söderberg (2011).

Figure 2. Income differentials by worker group, 1920 and 1950. Note. Calculations based on random sample; see Table 4. 1900 is not included since domestic workers and low-paid workers more generally rarely paid tax in this year.

Table 5. The real incomes of the working class in Malmö, 1905, 1920, 1935 and 1950 from the strategic sample.

	1905		1920		1935		1950
	% of group III	Median income	% of group III	Median income	% of group III	Median income	% of group III	Median income
Skilled industry worker	19	973	7	994	11	1144	16	1719
Unskilled industry worker	20	700	15	509	16	770	14	1231
Services worker	15	681	21	276	37	679	38	962
Domestic services worker	3	–	23	–	16	551	5	664
Construction and infrastructur	11	989	5	940	8	949	12	1597
unknown sector/other	41	–
	30	–
	12	674	15	455

Note: Incomes in 1900 prices (five-year averages), building on CPI from Edvinsson and Söderberg (2011).

Table 6. Share of women in worker groups, 1920 and 1950 (random sample).

	1920	1950
11 Skilled industry	13.3	10.4
10 Unskilled industry	49.5	47.6
21 Skilled services	59.6	54.9
20 Unskilled services	58.3	73.7
30 Domestic services	97.2	98.1
41 Skilled construction	1.6	4.2
40 Unskilled construction	0	5.9
51 Skilled transport	5.9	6.5
50 Unskilled transport	9.2	15.0
61 Skilled unknown/other	0	na
60 Unskilled, unknown/other	1.4	12.6

Note. No observations for category 61 in 1950.

Table 7. Incomes and income differences per social group on the household level.

		1905	1920	1935	1950
Median income	Social group I	2910	4185	7122	3909
	Social group II	1459	791	824	1675
	Social group III	467	400	610	927
Income ratios	I/III	6.2 (14.5)	10.5 (13.7)	11.6 (5.7)	4.2 (2.5)
	II/III	3.1	2	1.4	3.0

Note. Using the strategic sample. Incomes in 1900 prices with five-year average, adjusted by CPI from Edvinsson and Söderberg (2011). Individuals have been identified as living in the same household by identifying those at the same address with the same surname as one household. Within brackets is the income ratio between individuals.

Table 8. Income ratios before and after tax.

		1905	1920	1935	1950
Social group I/III	Before tax	14.4	13.7	5.7	2.5
	After tax	13.5	12.86	4.96	1.8
Social group II/III	Before tax	4.83	5.7	1.3	1.8
	After tax	4.77	5.67	1.23	1.67

Note: Ratio of the median income of the social groups on the individual level.

Table 9. Professional composition of the top 25 incomes every year

	Merchant	Manufacturing	Finance	Public sector	Noble	Doctor	Executive	Engineer	Lawyer	Other
1905	40	4	8	8	16	8	12	0	0	0
1920	24	4	4	0	0	8	36	4	8	12
1935	4	4	0	28	0	16	32	0	0	16
1950	4	0	0	12	0	8	24	32	0	20

Note. Data from the strategic sample

Table A1. Effects on the mean income in 1935 by enlarging the sample.

	Stortorget	Södervärn	Whole sample
Mean income	2 058 (n:103)	919 (n: 81)	3 015 (n: 369)
Median income	787	806	785
Mean income, enlarged sample	1810 (n:221)	988 (n: 178)	2 391 (n: 548)
Median income, enlarged sample	743	807	803

Note. Real income in 1900s prices 5-year average. Nominal figures adjusted by price index from Edvinsson and Söderberg (2011). Originally the Stortorget sample consisted of these kvarter: no.30 Sqvalperup, no.31 Mercurius, no.32 Jörgen Kock, and no.33 Skepparen; and the Södervärn sample consisted of kvarter no.1 Abel. In this exercise we have added the quarters Frans Suell, Gripen, and Residenset for Stortorget and kvarter Blenda for Södervärn.

Table B1. Median income per social group, 1905–1950: strategic sample.

Social group	1905	1920	1935	1950
I	6563 N: 95	5759 N: 56	4157 N: 54	2891 N: 49
II	2195 N:78	890 N: 69	909 N: 60	2099 N: 66
III	454 N: 515	420 N: 470	726 N: 254	1143 N: 267

Note. Real figures are in constant 1900, 5-year average prices based on the CPI by Edvinsson and Söderberg (2011).

Table B2. Median nominal/real income in the four districts of Malmö 1905–1950.

		Stortorget	Möllevången	Södervärn	Grönvången	Grönvången excluding servants
1905	Nominal Real	1765 1717	480 467	480 467	3106 3022	5711 5557
1920	Nominal Real	1620 581	660 237	710 255	545 196	13335 4784
1935	Nominal Real	1365 730	1600 856	1485 794	1560 834	8410 4497
1950	Nominal Real	4339 1299	3999 1198	3872 1159	6088 1823	11564 3463

Note. Builds on strategic sample. Real figures are in constant 1900, 5-year average prices based on the CPI by Edvinsson and Söderberg (2011)

Table B3. The composition of the working class: taxonomy with 1920 examples.

			Examples of job titles
11	INDUSTRY	Skilled	järnsvarf., skräddare, smed, modist, montör, skomak., konditor
10		Unskilled	Skoarb., söm., bageriarb., cigarrarb., järnarb., presserska, skotillskär., snörmak., kvarnarb., linjearb, konditoriarb.
21	SERVICES	Skilled	Kontorsbitr., handelsbitr., poliskonst., bokhåll., ritare, fotograf, barberare, brandförm., styckjunkare
20		Unskilled	Städerska, telefonist, tvätterska, köksbitr., nattvakt, serveringsbitr., sjukskötare, biträde, gårdskarl, handelselev, postvaktmäst., springflicka, springpojk, e.o. telegrafist, tidningsbud, tidningsförsälj
30	DOMESTIC	Domestic worker	Tjänarin., hembitr., tjän., hushåll.
41	CONSTRUCTION	Skilled	Snickare, målare, murare, plåtslag., elektriker
40		unskilled	Cementarb., snickarelärl., kranskötare, tapetser., timmermanslärl.,
51	TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE	skilled	lok.förare, spårvagnsför., öfvermaskinist, tågförare, tågmäst.
50		unskilled	stufveriarb., sjöman, lagerbitr., lagerarb., chaufför, stationskarl, renhållningsarb, banarb., brödutkör., förrådsarb., matros, spårvagnskonduk., stadsbud, stalldräng, transportarb., biljettör, brädgårdsarb.
61	UNDEFINED SECTOR	skilled	Beridare, uppsyningsman
60		unskilled	arbk., lärling, dräng,
70	OTHER	?	Fiskare, trädgårdsarb.

Bengtsson, E., Molinder, J., & Prado, S. (2022). Income inequality in Sweden 1870–1970: Evidence from micro data. Unpublished paper, Lund University.

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Edvinsson, R., & Söderberg, J. (2011). A consumer price index for Sweden 1290-2008. Review of Income and Wealth, 57(2), 270–292.

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