Owen Jones insists there's inequality and then there's inequality

There are different ways we can measure inequality, most certainly. The usual useful and overarching method is the Gini (either index or coefficient, whichever way you prefer to do it). It’s not a perfect measure given all those different ways that we can measure but it is the one most commonly used, the one referred to when we say that this society is more unequal than that and so on.

Which makes Owen Jones’ latest complaint interesting:

Coronavirus is not some great leveller: it is exacerbating inequality right now

That depends upon the measure of inequality we use. If we do use the Gini for income as our measure then inequality is falling right now. It always does in recessions. The richer among us depend more upon profits and capital income than the poorer. It is capital income which collapses in recessions - more than labour income at least. Those already dependent upon benefits of course see no diminution in their income at all.

Recessions reduce the Gini measure of inequality.

Owen Jones wishes to use different measures and that’s just entirely fine. But there is a proviso to using those different measures - he doesn’t get to come back to using the Gini as we exit recession and it rises, as it always does. Although we’d make a heavy bet at slim odds that he, along with many others, will attempt to so pick and choose their measures.