Gini index interpretation - time use data

[Andrea Ciaccio]

Hi everyone,
I am using Italian Time Use surveys to analyze parental time investments. I used ineqdec0 to calculate the Gini Index for time children are reported to spend with their parents (mother/father). Beyond giving an insight about the level of inequality within and across groups, how can I interpret, for instance, a gini Index of 0.5 or 0.3 (e.g., when related to income distribution, the interpretation is made in terms of shares of the population). On this line, is a Gini of 0.6 indicating that the fraction of zeros in parental time investments is equal to the 60%?
Thank you in advance,
Andrea

[Stephen Jenkins]

Suppose your individuals can be put into 2 groups: (1) all those with zero values for the time use variable of interest; (2) all those with positive time use values. Let p be the population share of the group with zeros, and note that there is zero inequality within this group

The overall Gini, G = (1-p)Gplus + p

where Gplus is the Gini coefficent for the individuals with positive values. Hence, the larger that p is, the larger is G overall.

[Andrea Ciaccio]

Thank you very much Professor Jenkins for your clear explanation