Unemployment and Income Inequality in Iran Provinces

The distribution of income, which means the distribution of national income between groups, social classes and economic sectors, is one of the main components of social justice. There are many factors affecting the income distribution. The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of unemployment rate along with other major factors related to income distribution in Iran’s provinces. For this purpose, the annual data for Iran’s provinces during 1999 to 2014, with DOLS estimator have been analyzed. The results show that increasing unemployment in the long run will increase the income inequality in the provinces. Also, inflation rate, economic growth rate and current government spending increase the Gini coefficient in the long run. Error correction model results indicate that, unemployment and government size variables have no significant relationship with the dependent variable in the short run. However Inflation rate and economic growth rate have a positive relationship with inequality in the short run.