Introduction

Inequality has been at the center of scholarly and policy attention in many industrialized countries. The rise in income inequality during the last decades, which characterizes many industrial countries, led to growing concerns for future economic, social, and political stability of societies and the well-being of their citizens. Recent studies highlight the drivers of inequality as well as its consequences (e.g., Salverda et al. 2014). Economic changes within the Western world during the last few decades have contributed greatly to the rise in inequality and poverty, affecting the opportunity structure open to different groups in society and the income distribution. Increasing competition due to the opening up of international markets and to an influx of migrant workers on the one hand, and technological developments on the other hand, changed employment opportunities and the structure of demand for workers. These changes have increased opportunities for the highly skilled and narrowed those for workers lacking the appropriate skills and educational background. In addition, economic and financial crises further increased employment instability and affected the wages of, especially, vulnerable groups of workers, while traditional worker protections have eroded with the weakening of labor unions. All of these factors have sharpened economic inequality and left the labor market’s more vulnerable groups with uncertainty, low wages, and worsening work conditions.