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Decomposing Youth Poverty in 22 Countries
325
S.D.
1.71
0.78
2.00
2.19
East Asian
Japan
3.56*
0.53
3.04^
-0.01
S.D.
1.50
0.77
1.79
1.24
South Korea
3.79**
-0.02
3.96*
-0.14
S.D.
1.28
0.58
1.75
1.59
Taiwan
--
--
--
--
Southern European
Spain
10.01***
-0.01
12.61***
-2.59
S.D.
1.47
0.63
2.29
2.02
Note: ^
p
<.1, *
p
<.05, **
p
<.01, ***
p
<.001 (two-tailed t-tests)
points. On the other hand, given that other Southern European
countries (i.e. Greece and Italy) are excluded from the analysis
because the data on gross income are not available for the two
countries, Spain alone may not represent the youth poverty pattern
in Southern Europe.
In addition, the youth poverty patterns are quite similar in
East Asian countries. BTST income poverty is the major
contributor to the three percentage point poverty disparity
between Taiwan and the other two East Asian countries. The
effects of living arrangements and welfare effectiveness are
negligible. The decomposition analyses confirm that Japan, South
Korea, and Taiwan differ from most Western countries in terms of
poverty patterns, household composition, market structures, and
social welfare systems.
Finally, Table 5 presents the results for the decomposition
analyses and t
-
tests on the basis of 100 resamples of each country.
The results based on the resamples are generally similar to the
results based on the original samples. The youth poverty rate for
Taiwan is significantly lower than most countries with the
exceptions of Australia, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The more
independent living arrangements of young Scandinavian adults
significantly contribute to the observed poverty discrepancies. On
the other hand, the household composition patterns of young
adults from societies with prevalent intergenerational coresidence
(e.g. Japan, South Korea, Spain, and post-socialist countries) do