Re-estimating gender differences in income in South Africa: The implications of equivalence scales

Figures & data

Table 1. Household size, per-capita income and poverty rates, 2008

Household size	Percentage of the population	Average per-capita household income	Income ratio (relative to a single-person household)	Percentage poor
1	6.86 (0.29)	3 726.64 (328.82)	1	17.64 (1.67)
2	11.28 (0.33)	2 853.31 (157.93)	0.77	29.33 (1.28)
3	14.78 (0.36)	2 999.16 (253.09)	0.80	42.13 (1.27)
4	16.94 (0.36)	2 043.79 (87.63)	0.55	46.81 (1.13)
5	14.49 (0.32)	1 375.99 (56.57)	0.37	57.17 (1.22)
6	10.49 (0.26)	870.02 (31.78)	0.23	65.19 (1.26)
7 or more	25.15 (0.36)	473.66 (7.92)	0.13	83.09 (0.59)

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Standard errors are in parentheses. The poverty line is R664 per month in 2008 prices.

Table 2. Share of children, per-capita income and poverty rates, 2008

Share of children in the household	Percentage of the population	Average per-capita household income	Income ratio (relative to a childless household)	Percentage poor
0	24.83 (0.45)	3 348.44 (152.34)	1	24.17 (0.86)
>0 and ≤0.25	12.56 (0.29)	1 528.64 (75.49)	0.46	46.16 (1.20)
>0.25 and ≤0.5	43.99 (0.46)	1 403.12 (69.46)	0.42	61.91 (0.71)
>0.5 and ≤0.75	17.34 (0.30)	762.52 (82.78)	0.23	83.51 (0.84)
>0.75	1.27 (0.09)	315.36 (21.90)	0.09	92.72 (1.73)

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Standard errors are in parentheses. The poverty line is R664 per month in 2008 prices. Children are aged 15 and younger.

Table 3. Average adjusted individual income by household size and share of children in the household

Household size	AES4: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.9	Income ratio (relative to a single-person household)	Share of children in the household	AES4: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.9	Income ratio (relative to a childless household)
1	3 726.64 (328.82)	1	0	3 585.90 (162.74)	1
2	3 123.81 (169.50)	0.84	>0 and ≤0.25	1 989.94 (97.64)	0.55
3	3 820.10 (324.23)	1.02	>0.25 and ≤0.5	1 981.73 (93.14)	0.55
4	2 787.90 (121.69)	0.75	>0.5 and ≤0.75	1 259.71 (133.13)	0.35
5	1 915.00 (73.93)	0.51	>0.75	595.25 (40.68)	0.17
6	1 272.79 (46.28)	0.34
7 or more	723.96 (11.48)	0.19

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Standard errors are in parentheses.

Table 4. Inequality measures using per-capita and adjusted income, 2008

	Gini coefficient
Per-capita scale	0.682 (0.007)
AES1: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 1	0.669 (0.007)
AES2: α = 0.5, Θ = 1	0.668 (0.007)
AES3: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.9	0.662 (0.007)
AES4: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.9	0.660 (0.007)
AES5: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.7	0.648* (0.006)
AES6: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.7	0.647* (0.006)

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Bootstrap standard errors are in parentheses.

*Inequality measure is significantly different from the per-capita measure at the 95% confidence level.

Table 5. Co-residence of adult men and women, 2008

	African		Non-African
	Women	Men	Women	Men
Percentage living without other adult men	30.31 (0.74)	50.07 (0.97)	17.59 (1.66)	55.27 (2.07)
Percentage living without other adult women	37.76 (0.82)	28.63 (0.98)	51.91 (2.00)	11.38 (1.58)
N	7768	5818	2267	1929

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Standard errors are in parentheses. Adults are aged 16 years and older.

Table 6. Household size and composition of adult men and women, 2008

	African		Non-African
	Women	Men	Women	Men
Household size
Average household size	5.34* (0.057)	4.54 (0.065)	3.93 (0.081)	3.78 (0.077)
Average number of adults (>15 years old)	3.31* (0.034)	3.14 (0.040)	2.92 (0.052)	2.95 (0.056)
Average number of young children (0 to 10 years old)	1.42* (0.023)	0.93 (0.023)	0.67 (0.038)	0.54 (0.036)
Average number of older children (11 to 15 years old)	0.61* (0.013)	0.46 (0.013)	0.33 (0.021)	0.29 (0.021)
Percentage living with
No other adults (>15 years old)	11.60* (0.57)	19.01 (0.87)	8.48 (1.08)	8.54 (1.48)
No young children (0 to 10 years old)	32.60* (0.80)	52.91 (0.95)	60.14 (1.90)	65.95 (1.92)
No older children (11 to 15 years old)	57.12* (0.80)	67.06 (0.85)	74.27 (1.66)	76.51 (1.73)
No children (0 to 15 years old)	22.96* (0.76)	43.81 (0.99)	47.97 (2.01)	53.21 (2.11)
Share of children in household (number of children/household size)	0.322* (.004)	0.211 (0.004)	0.198 (0.008)	0.167 (0.008)
N	7768	5818	2267	1929

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Adults are aged 16 years and older. Standard errors are in parentheses.

*Means or shares between men and women are significantly different at the 95% confidence level.

Table 7. Average income (Rand) and the gender gap among African adults, 2008

Adjustment	Women’s income	Men’s income	Women/men	Gender gap in income
Per-capita scale	918* (30.2)	1470 (78.0)	62.5	37.5
AES1: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 1	1015* (31.6)	1538 (78.1)	66.0	34.0
AES2: α = 0.5, Θ = 1	1057* (33.6)	1573 (78.8)	67.2	32.8
AES3: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.9	1141* (35.2)	1665 (80.8)	68.6	31.4
AES4: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.9	1184* (37.2)	1701 (81.5)	69.6	30.4
AES5: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.7	1458* (44.2)	1981 (88.1)	73.6	26.4
AES6: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.7	1502* (46.4)	2019 (89.0)	74.4	25.6

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Standard errors are in parentheses.

*Means between men and women are significantly different at the 95% confidence level.

Table 8. Per-capita and adjusted household income (Rand) by gender, Africans 2008

Income percentile	Women	Men	Gender gap	% change in gap – per-capita base
Per-capita income
10th	150	183	18.0	–
30th	300	387	22.4	–
50th	474	651	27.2	–
70th	801	1 197	33.1	–
90th	1 956	3 250	39.8	–
AES1: adjusted income (α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 1)
10th	177	212	16.5	−8.3
30th	355	432	17.8	−20.5
50th	550	725	24.1	−11.4
70th	888	1 266	29.9	−9.7
90th	2 148	3 417	37.3	−6.3
AES2: adjusted income (α = 0.5, Θ = 1)
10th	191	228	16.2	−10.0
30th	381	450	15.3	−31.7
50th	574	750	23.4	−14.0
70th	915	1 306	29.9	−9.7
90th	2 238	3 503	36.1	−9.3
AES3: adjusted income (α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.9)
10th	206	249	17.2	−4.4
30th	413	495	16.6	−25.9
50th	630	828	23.9	−12.1
70th	993	1 400	29.1	−12.1
90th	2 418	3 617	33.1	−16.8
AES5: adjusted income (α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.7)
10th	278	328	15.2	−15.5
30th	558	658	15.2	−32.1
50th	830	1 049	20.9	−23.2
70th	1 296	1 736	25.3	−23.6
90th	3 124	4 098	23.8	−40.2

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. The percentiles are derived from the income distribution for Africans.

Figure 1. Per-capita household income. Source: NIDS (2008).

Figure 2. Adjusted household income (AE5). Source: NIDS (2008).

Table 9. Gender composition of poverty using a 40% relative cut-off, African adults, 2008

Adjustment	Poverty line at 40% (Rand)	Percentage of poor African adults who are women
Per-capita scale	441	60.0 (0.84)
AES1: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 1	519	58.5 (0.85)
AES2: α = 0.5, Θ = 1	548	58.7 (0.84)
AES3: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.9	600	58.8 (0.85)
AES4: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.9	632	58.7 (0.84)
AES5: α1 = 0.5, α2 = 0.9, Θ = 0.7	802	58.4 (0.84)
AES6: α = 0.5, Θ = 0.7	834	58.4 (0.85)

Source: NIDS (2008).

Notes: The data are weighted. Standard errors are in parentheses. Adults are aged 16 years and older.

NIDS (National Income Dynamics Study), 2008. Wave 1 [dataset]. Version 5.3. Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit [producer], and DataFirst [distributor], Cape Town [2015].

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