The typical full-time worker is receiving almost half as much pay because of increase in inequality.
“Income inequality has given the rich a greater share of the economic spoils than middle- and low-income earners. That’s resulted in a very real impact on the incomes of middle- and low-income households, with the typical full-time American worker now earning $42,000 less than they would have if inequality hadn’t surged over the last four decades.
That’s according to a new analysis from researchers at Rand, the global policy think tank. Its researchers wanted to look at the dollars-and-cents impact on U.S. households from yawning income inequality, which has lifted the fortunes of the rich to that of Gilded Age levels.
Prior to the mid-1970s, Americans’ incomes, no matter their level, generally rose in step with overall economic growth. But that changed in the late 1970s, with the rich capturing the lion’s share of economic growth, while middle-class and lower-income workers eked out gains far below par.
In 2018, the typical full-time worker earned about $50,000 — but if that same worker had kept up with the economy’s expansion, they would have earned $92,000 annually, the Rand analysis found.
Only the top 5% of Americans have enjoyed earnings that approached or exceeded the nation’s economic growth. Meanwhile, the top 1% has come out far ahead, gaining a far greater share of economic growth than they did prior to the 1970s.
The typical person in the top 1% earned $1.4 million in 2018, but would have earned $630,000 –– less than half that amount –– were it not for benefitting from widening inequality, the analysis found.”
For the rest of the story, visit CBS News here.
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