Reasons For Income Inequality

A cause of income inequality could be the jobs that people have. “In the United States, income inequality, or the gap between the rich and everyone else, has been growing markedly… (Income Inequality, para 1).” There have been no signs of income inequality changing for the lower classes, or getting better, therefore, it has become a very concerned issue upon Americans. “America’s top ten percent now average at least nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent (Income Inequality, para 2).” Many people who have a big dream have jobs that pay minimum wage, which makes it hard. With the rich getting richer, it makes it hard for the lower classes to get a shot at being at the top with them. This also makes it hard to close the gap between the three classes.

Income inequality is on the rise and it is evident in most cities throughout the United States. There are individuals with six to seven figure incomes and then there are individuals whose income is just enough to get by. The middle class is not as prominent as the upper and lower class. This should be the other way around. There should not be so many cities with very wealthy neighborhoods right next door to low class, rundown neighborhoods, with little middle class households. Digging deeper, 47.6% of the money in the United States belongs to individuals that receive $98,200 or more (“Distribution of U.S. family income”, 101). The middle class should be much more noticeable with the upper and lower

In Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore, Robert H. Frank paints a picture to the reader about the struggles of pier pressure. For example: an upper-classmen chooses to buy a big house and fancy clothing. This acts as a “frame of reference” to the changes and norms of the society. If he spends money on something nice, a middle-classmen will then go and decide to do the same thing, and then a lower-classmen…all the way down the social hierarchy. This is what he calls an “expenditure cascade.” Robert relates this with a person’s downfalls, which can be traced due to lower income inequality. Income inequality basically means that in a given quantity, the dispersion of income is underlined by the gap between individuals and or households with

The issue of income inequality in the United States is complicated and does not have a definite answer. Income inequality can be measured in a few different ways. The first measurement for the income inequality in a country is to look at the percentages on households and group them into income categories, called distribution by income category. The second measurement for income inequality is called distribution by quintiles or fifths. This is when you divide the total number of people, households, families into five groups called quintiles to examine the percentage of total before tax income received by each quintile. Each quintile would then be ordered by income and households in the category.

Americans today live in a distinctly unequal society. Inequality is now wider than it used to be in the last century, and the division in income, wages, and wealth are broader than they are in other developed economies of the world. Wealth inequality is the imbalance of wealth or income within a society, and it is one of the most vital economic challenge the US is facing today because the distribution of wealth is more dispersed, making the inequality in wealth distribution at its highest. While the matter has been discussed for many years, the actual income disparity in the U.S. has heightened and is now verging on an extreme gap that portends to impede long-term economic growth. The huge gap between the wealthy and poor is squeezing the U.S. economy, the wealth gap threatens economic growth by diminishing social mobility and producing a less-educated workforce who are not able to compete in the global economy. unrestrained level of income inequality causes political pressures, it discourages trade, investment, and hiring. The present level of income inequality in the U.S. is shrinking GDP growth, and the world's largest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession.

Income Inequality is a major problem that has been going on in America for decades. Many people feel that it barely exists today, but those people are very uneducated and don’t really care about the huge problem in front of them the many people that feel that way are highly uneducated, and seem to not really care about which has been gradually increasing instead of decreasing. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done, only of course if the poor class of people decide to actually educate themselves and get a higher education. One says poor class, simply because that’s how they’re classified. There are five types of levels that Americans are classified as, and they are: Upper Class, Upper Middle Class, Middle Class, Working Class, Poor. The highest percentage of Americans fall in the Poor department, and it has been that way for decades, and will continue to be that way for decades to come.

In any given population, there is a difference between what people within the population earn. The uneven distribution of income in any given population is income inequality. In order for there to be income, there has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012).

Income inequality has been an ongoing issue that has affects many American citizens for decades. Some Americans are more affected by income inequality than other Americans. This is an unfortunate fact, but there seems to be no easy solution and it seems it is getting worse. American citizens are losing hope in the system, and their voices screaming for change that benefits all, are rarely heard.

In recent years, a growing gap between the wealthy and the middle class has grown, as the wealth of the world has increased significantly, yet only a minority of individuals get to enjoy it. Income inequality has been proven to be detrimental to not only the economy, but to the overall well-being of a nation as it leads to societal upset and can potentially prompt a decline in progression as a nation. Over time, income inequality has led to negative results in the United States, as well as many other nations including Greece. Consequently, the solution to prevent income inequality from deteriorating a nation and prevent economic upset is to ultimately tax those who are wealthier at a higher rate and put said money towards education and healthcare

We all have different opinions of what the American dream consists of. When the economy was stable, most dreams consisted of having a great career, a big house with all the luxuries imaginable. However, having a stable job, and saving for the future is simply what the American dream has become. Some may argue that the American dream is no longer out there because of the income inequality I assure to all those looking for the dream, inequality has always been there and we should not allow anything to stop us from achieving what we want.

Poverty and income inequality is an enormous obstacle in which certain Americans may face daily. Poverty refers to economic or income deprivation (Iceland 2006). Some may refer to poverty as having material hardships, or having one’s income and assets compared against a standard. If an individual’s income falls below the standard, they’re considered “poor” (Newman and O’Brien 2011). Poverty may be currently measured in two common ways, either through an absolute measure or relative. The poverty measure I am proposing would be looking at “family/couple/household” as the unit of analysis, cost of food, childcare, housing, and transportation as scale of resources, and the threshold will be using a more relative dimensional perspective.

Imagine for a moment that you are a babysitter keeping an eye on two few-month-old babies. Cute, aren’t they? Together they’ve created a perfect friendship in minutes. Nothing is different between the two. The babies are curious, innocent, and a little bit hungry. Your doorbell rings and two woman walk in at your invitation. The mothers smile and briskly trot to their babies, swinging them up into a warm hug. Though the babies have no differences, the women do. One styles her hair in a chic bob while the other wears a messy bun. One dresses head-to-toe in pristine designer outfits; the other wears a tattered Burger King apron. One can pay you today; the other swallows her pride and admits that she doesn’t have the money right now. You two agree on an I.O.U.

Income inequality has been a major issue in American history. There are many different factors that contribute to inequality. These include education, wealth, discrimination, ability, and monopoly power.

The weakening of labour market institutions is one key cause of income inequality. The “structural reform paradigm” employed since the 1980s had the undesir¬able effect of reducing the ability of labour market institutions to moderate market inequality. Recent work by the IMF has reconfirmed this (see Figure 6). The research results “confirm that the decline in unionization is strongly asso¬ciated with the rise of income shares at the top” and goes on to say that this “explains about half of the 5 percentage point rise in the top 10 percent income share. Similarly, about half of the increase in the Gini of net income is driven by de-unionization.” (TUAC, 2015)

Gender: From differentiating on household rules till leading a country, there always has been the categorization on Gender, with Men often seen as the point of success.