Abstract. Economic inequality is one of the most debated issues in economic science. It is known that politicians have to choose between efficiency and equality, and decisions, which are finally made by them, influence social stability in a state. The factors of income inequality in Great Britain are analyzed in the present article. Regression analysis shows that the main cause of growing market income inequality in the UK in the latest decades is decreasing employment in the British industrial sector. Moreover, shifts in employment in industry directly and indirectly affects other factors of income inequality. Employment in industrial sector is also, in its turn, influenced by technological development and globalization. A combination of factors, having impact on employment in the British secondary sector and, as a consequence, on market income distribution in the UK, is analyzed in the paper.

Keywords: income inequality, income distribution, industrial sector, structural changes, Kuznets curve.