Persistency means that a person is in the same income group for six consecutive years, that is, the starting year and the five subsequent years. Income group refers to quintiles, which means that the population is divided into five equal groups, where the fifth with the lowest income is included in quintile 1 and the fifth with the highest income in quintile 5. Persistently low income means that the person is in quintile 1 for six consecutive years, while persistently high income means that the person is in quintile 5 for six consecutive years.

Higher share with persistently low income among women

The share with persistently low income aged 20–64 is greater for women than for men. However, the difference has decreased over time. In 2005, the difference was eight percentage points, 34 percent for women compared to 26 percent for men. In 2022, the difference had decreased to just over one percentage point.

- The share of persistently low income has increased in recent years, for both women and men. At the same time, the difference between the sexes have decreased over time, explains Daniel Kruse, researcher at Statistics Sweden.

The same pattern, but reversed, appears for those with the highest income, in quintile 5.

In 2005, 58 percent of the men and 42 percent of the women had persistently high income. Since then, the share has increased sharply for women, to 51 percent in 2022, while it has been relatively unchanged for men.