SOCOL CRISTIAN| MARINAS MARIUS MINIMUM WAGE AS A PUBLIC POLICY INSTRUMENT – PROS AND CONS The situation is even more concerning in the case of part-time workers in Romania, with a staggering 59.4%, which is almost four times higher than the EU average of 15.4%. Serbia has 44.17%, Bulgaria 30.3%, Portugal 29.5% and Greece 28.2%(Eurostat statistics for 2015)(Figure 3). Figure 2. Percentage of employees at risk of poverty in the total full-time contracts(2015) 16.0 14.7 14.0 11.6 12.4 12.0 9.6 9.8 10.3 10.7 10.0 6.7 7.1 7.8 8.2 8.4 8.6 8.9 8.0 5.4 5.4 5.9 6.0 6.0 3.7 3.8 4.0 2.0 0.0 elgium blic epu lova k ia a t ia tria n ce aria an y 28 Cro Aus Fra ulg rm Eu L atv ia ar y nia nia gal u ng h ua tal y a in and ece Esto rbia nia ortu I Sp Pol Gre Se m a B ch R S B G e H Lit P Ro Cze S ource: Eurostat, 2016 Figure 3. Percentage of employees at risk of poverty in the total part-time contracts(2015) 70.0 59.4 60.0 50.0 44.1 40.0 27.1 28.1 28.2 29.5 30.3 20.0 4.9 6.3 6.4 7.6 11.1 30.0 13.2 14.5 15.4 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 19.0 20.4 10.0 0.0 etherla h Re n p d u Belg D e nem Au s blic i um ar k st F r r i a G erm a n ce an y N Czec Eu 2 Est 8 o Hu n n ia g P a o r y l an L a d tvia tal y k ia a t ia a in nia ece gal aria rbia nia I lova Cro Sp h ua Gre ortu ulg Se m a S Lit PB Ro S ource: Eurostat, 2016 Secondly, these are countries with a deep income inequality, higher than the EU average. For instance, the Gini coefficient calculated for the equivalent disposable income(on a scale of 0 to 100 points, where 0 is perfect equity and 100 is perfect inequity) in 2015 was 34.8 in Estonia, 35.4 in Latvia, 37.0 in Bulgaria, 37.4 in Romania, 37.9 in Lithuania and 38.2 in Serbia, way above the EU28 average of 31(Figure 4). In addition to that, Romania experiences a deep polarization of the population's income distribution – a ratio of the income of the richest 10% households to that of the poorest 10% of 13.4, compared to 6.5 in Hungary and 8 in Poland.Secondly, these are countries with a deep income inequality, higher than the EU average. For instance, the Gini coefficient calculated for the equivalent disposable income(on a scale of 0 to 100 points, where 0 is perfect equity and 100 is perfect inequity) in 2015 was 34.8 in Estonia, 35.4 in Latvia, 37.0 in Bulgaria, 37.4 in Romania, 37.9 in Lithuania 12