While there is renewed interest in earnings differentials between social classes, the contribution of social class to overall earnings inequality across countries and net of compositional effects remains largely uncharted territory. This paper uses data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions to assess earnings differentials between social classes (as measured by ESeC) and the role of between-class inequality in overall earnings inequality across 30 European countries. We find that there is substantial variation in earnings differences between social classes across countries. Countries with higher levels of between-class inequality tend to display higher levels of overall earnings inequality, but this relationship is far from perfect. Even with highly aggregated class measures, between-class inequality accounts for a non-negligible share of total earnings inequality (between 15 and 25% in most countries). Controlling for observed between-class differences in composition shows that these account for much of the observed between-class earnings inequality, while in most countries between-class differences in returns to observed compositional variables do not play a major role. In all these respects we find considerable variation across countries, implying that both the size of between-class differences in earnings and the primary mechanisms that produce these class differences vary substantially between European countries.

尽管人们对社会阶层之间的收入差异重新产生了兴趣，但社会阶层对各国整体收入不平等和构成影响净额的贡献在很大程度上仍然是未知的领域。本文使用欧盟收入和生活条件统计数据来评估社会阶层之间的收入差异（由 ESeC 衡量）以及阶层间不平等在 30 个欧洲国家的总体收入不平等中的作用。我们发现各国社会阶层之间的收入差异存在很大差异。阶级间不平等程度较高的国家往往表现出较高的整体收入不平等程度，但这种关系远非完美。即使使用高度聚合的类度量，阶级间不平等在总收入不平等中占有不可忽视的份额（在大多数国家为 15% 至 25%）。控制观察到的阶级间构成差异表明，这些是观察到的阶级间收入不平等的主要原因，而在大多数国家，观察到的组成变量的回报的阶级间差异并不起主要作用。在所有这些方面，我们发现各国之间存在相当大的差异，这意味着欧洲国家之间阶级间收入差异的大小和产生这些阶级差异的主要机制都有很大差异。控制观察到的阶级间构成差异表明，这些是观察到的阶级间收入不平等的主要原因，而在大多数国家，观察到的组成变量的回报的阶级间差异并不起主要作用。在所有这些方面，我们发现各国之间存在相当大的差异，这意味着欧洲国家之间阶级间收入差异的大小和产生这些阶级差异的主要机制都有很大差异。控制观察到的阶级间构成差异表明，这些是观察到的阶级间收入不平等的主要原因，而在大多数国家，观察到的组成变量的回报的阶级间差异并不起主要作用。在所有这些方面，我们发现各国之间存在相当大的差异，这意味着欧洲国家之间阶级间收入差异的大小和产生这些阶级差异的主要机制都有很大差异。