Segregation in the workplace is growing: Top earners are increasingly working together

Top earners are increasingly working exclusively with other highly paid colleagues, while contact with middle-income workers declines. This is according to a large-scale international study on workplace collaboration, conducted by a team of social scientists in twelve OECD countries.

The study shows that this division between income groups is not only occurring in the Netherlands but is part of a broader trend in many developed countries. Sociologist Zoltán Lippényi, who co-authored the study, observes a clear shift in the composition of workplaces over the past decades. "In 2006, the top 10 percent of highest-earning employees in the Netherlands worked in environments where about 25 percent of their colleagues had a similar income. By 2020, that percentage had risen to nearly 30 percent," said Lippényi.

The isolation of top incomes from lower and middle incomes has also increased. This is evident, for example, from the fact that in 2006 the top 1 percent still worked in companies where 40 percent of their colleagues belonged to the middle-income group, whereas by 2020 this had decreased to 35 percent.

According to the researchers, this development is caused by three interrelated factors: the decline in industrial jobs, the restructuring of workplaces, and the rise of digitalization. These changes have not only transformed the labor market but also have broader societal implications.

The growing income segregation is barely noticeable in the short term but has significant long-term consequences. The authors of the study warn that the increasing separation between income groups in the workplace can strengthen feelings of exclusion among lower-paid workers, which could ultimately undermine social cohesion and further exacerbate inequality of opportunity.

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