Income Disparity in the US
Income disparity in the US has been a significant issue affecting millions of its citizens. It negatively affects the middle class. Despite the economic achievements of the country, the gap between the upper and lower class continues to widen, and the disparity mostly affects the minorities such as the African Americans and the Hispanics. The most areas affected include education and health which are the critical determinants of success.
Key words: income inequality, United States, minorities.
How Income Inequality Affects People
The United States is one of the developed countries with the highest income inequality rates globally. In many instances, employers and chief executive officers earn much higher than their median employees. The problem has been there for some time now and perhaps it is the major threat to social order. Moreover, the rate of income inequality has grown significantly ever since the United States experienced the Great Depression. Perhaps, income inequality creates an unequal opportunity for people as everyone struggles to have their basic needs across the socioeconomic spectrum, but continue falling way behind in the pursuit of their dreams. America is recently witnessing demonstration over wages in many industries. While external occurrences such as recession and wars may have played a role in economic inequality, the laws that favor wealth accumulation also did. While the gap continue to increase, income inequality is negatively affecting the middle and low-class people in every aspect of their lives such as education and health.
Despite the improvement in the economy of the United States, the high-income earners continue to rise faster economically that the people at the bottom (DePillis, 2017).
The most affected by the disparity is the minority groups such as the African Americans and the Hispanics. Over time, African Americans and other minorities have faced challenges in their quest to adapt to the economy which has continually transformed into a highly specialized economy. The minorities lack education that is necessary for them to have well-paying jobs. Therefore, their income levels continue to be stagnantly low despite operating in a booming and robust economy. A median white family is worth almost 110 times as much compared to a median Hispanic family yet they are in the same economy (DePillis, 2017).
The reduction in highly-paying manufacturing jobs in the United States is another contributor towards the apparent economic disparity. It is even more devastating because many factories are closing and thousands of the low-income earners are losing their little jobs. They end up settling for even lower paying jobs that the ones they have lost. The industrial shutdown is not only affecting the low-income earners but also the middle class and the white working class. Since the recession, they have experienced almost half reduction of their wealth.
Furthermore, the bad exchange rates and cheap external labor from countries like China lead to outsourcing of highly-paying jobs. The corporations within the US consider making profits first before the interest of the many Americans. However, the US companies have to compete with the cheaper Indian and Chinese companies who make profits after paying their workers low incomes. These economic dynamics have contributed to the US companies outsourcing cheaper labor especially in the manufacturing and tech fields (Amadeo, 2018). The ultimate result is the loss of factory jobs which were once well-paying. Hence the owners earn more, but the workers make less even lose their jobs.
Income inequality impacts all races making it more of a class rather than a race issue. There is a vast difference in the income of the top one percent and the bottom 99 percent. The wealthiest one percent of the Americans own about 40 percent of the country’s wealth (Amadeo, 2018). The wages of the working class has been stagnant while the top earners increase theirs faster. The majority of financial analysts agree that the income gaps between the very rich and rest are pulling apart. According to Clemmitt (2010), the normal pretax revenue of the lowest 90 percent amounts to almost $900 which is lower than in 1979. The income inequality gap is evident I cities such as New York where the census report in 2009 indicated that 18.7 percent of its population live in poverty, and the median income families reduced from $51,116 to $50,033 in 2008 (Clemmitt, 2010).
The income inequality has massive impacts on health and social welfare of the people at the bottom. There is a high rate of heart diseases, high blood pressure, and cancer amongst the group which affects the minorities than the whites (Mode et al., 2016). Regarding education, the upper middle class and the rich access best education for their children thus preparing them for good jobs and opportunities in the future. Also, the wealthy districts access more government funds to support education than the poor neighborhoods. In contrast, the people in the bottom end do not have a choice of establishing their kids’ future. Their children attend underfunded schools. Their neighborhoods are most affected by negativity such as high crime rate hence they are more segregated.
While there is a notable reduction of racial segregation, the economic discrimination has been in the rise between the two classes. Education is a crucial determinant of success. For the children who grow up in poor neighborhoods and attend inferior schools, they get an insufficient education that pushes them to the lower side of the economy in their future. Their success chances are reduced than the kids from wealthy families hence setting the stage for economic inequality.
References
Amadeo, K. (2018, November 7). The True Cause of Income Inequality in America. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from https://www.thebalance.com/income-inequality-in-america- 3306190
Clemmitt, M. (2010, December 3). Income inequality. CQ Researcher, 20, 989-1012. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/
DePillis, L. (2017, November 3). America's wealth gap is bigger than ever. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from https://money.cnn.com/2017/11/03/news/economy/wealth-gap- america/index.html
Mode, N. A., Evans, M. K., " Zonderman, A. B. (2016). Race, Neighborhood Economic Status, Income Inequality and Mortality. PLoS ONE, 11(5). Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.proxy189.nclive.org/apps/doc/A453370174/OVIC?u=nclivewtc c"sid=OVIC"xid=9f4a4e41
