Robert Higgs once said, “A society with greater income inequality may have no poor people, and a society with no income inequality may have nothing but poor people.” When people think of income inequality, they picture poverty and people not having basic necessities. However, income inequality is not just associated with the poor. Income inequality is strongly affected by educational attainment, technology, and gender. One of the reasons for income inequality is education. The more education one has, the greater their possibility of making a higher income. Based on information provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “earnings increase and unemployment decreases as educational attainment rises” (Vilario 2016).
Figure 1 (Earnings and unemployment rates by educational attainment)
As shown in Figure 1,people with a professional degree have the lowest rate of unemployment at 1.5 percent, while people with less than a high school diploma have an unemployment rate of 8.0 percent. The study also shows that the unemployment rate for those with a just a high school diploma is 2.5 percent higher than those who have earned a Bachelor’s degree. Those who obtain a professional degree have weekly earnings of $1237 more than those that obtained less than a high school diploma.
Having more education does not guarantee that one will have a higher salary than someone who has less than a year’s worth of post secondary education. However, it can allow a person to prosper within a
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.
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.
This article titled "How income inequality hurts America” written by Steve Hargreaves explains the thesis statement itself. On the other hand, he states it’s not just income equality but it’s also lifespan inequality, education inequality, and declining economic growth, which refers to the graphs shown above the starting paragraph. Mr. Hargreaves then points out a fact that the rich are getting richer, while the poor and the middle class are falling behind. Another fact concerning this issue is the 400 richest people outnumber the wealth of the bottom 150 million put together.
The concept of working hard and being able to earn a livable salary in order to support our families, maintain a household and eventually save enough to retire would be great for many but unfortunately, many people cannot achieve due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes.
society, the idea of income inequality is a frequent topic of argument. Many believe that a large income inequality distribution has a negative effect on a society, while others feel that it has very minor, nonexistent, or even positive effect. Some of the factors that affect the income inequality in the United States are low minimum wages, education, and discrimination of race and gender. The swelling income inequality gap in the United States has created numerous social, health, and human capital problems. There is a ton of information to digest regarding who the majority of money is split between and who is actually benefitting from it. There are numerous factors that affect the income inequality and the data associated with the results of it are rather
The debate over whether income inequality should be an important topic in comparison to other issues that our nation faces. Income inequality an be defined as “the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population (dictionary.com).”According to the Census Bureau who reported that there has been a “rise in income inequality in America, the gap between rich and poor in New York is getting worse (CQ Researcher, pg. 991)”. Right America has one of the largest inequality gap, in comparison to India and the African nation of Burkina Faso (CQ Researcher, pg. 991)”. This debate over income inequality has been inconsistent. Some do not see an issue with the way that money is distributed, while other see this issue as a major problem that our nation faces and strategies/ policies needs to be implemented to address this issue. I
There are a different amount of social factors that play a role in the rising income inequality. One of the most prominent is marriage trends. The degree of “associative matching,” or marrying someone who has had higher education when you also have had a higher education has increased over the past few decades. The gap between the incomes of highly educated couples and less educated couples has been continuously widening since the 1960s. More married women with college degrees are entering the workforce and further increasing incomes of well-educated couples. Higher income inequality leads to
Over the years, it has become more apparent that in order to be successful in a career, a college degree is necessary. Many people, young and old, are getting a college education. In an article in “Affordability and the Return on Investment of College Completion”, it is stated that “the average earnings of young adults with a bachelor's degree are twice as high as that of workers with only a high school diploma …” (Bowers 144).
Have you heard what McDonald’s employees’ are asking customers now days? Can you afford fries with that? According to the economist Emmanuel Saez, income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s, and now has attained levels not seen since 1928 (Desilver). So what exactly is income inequality? Most of the time when people talk about income inequality, they usually are discussing the startling growth of the exceptionally rich, the stagnant salaries and diminishing prognoses of the American middle class, and the substantial amount of people at the base of the ladder (Zakaria).
An important factor in the creation of inequality is variation in individuals’ access to education (Becker, et. Al, 2007). According to Bosworth et. Al, (1999) education in a field that requires or demand a high number of workers, creates high wages for those with advance education. As a result, those who are unable to afford good quality education or choose not to participate in schools or colleges, generally receive much lower wages and thus it lowers aggregate savings and investment. In particular, the increase in family income and wealth
First, the increased income inequality in the United States is due to increasing problematic issues in the education sector. Education plays an increasingly vital part in the economic success in the United States as technological transformations and globalizations increase. A weakening middle class leads to decreased improvements in the education system, while a stronger middle class leads to increased
Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The
Education and wealth have a big impact on income inequality. Education and wealth go hand in hand when talking about income inequality. When a family is more wealthy, they can afford a better education. One article from ACE states that “currently in America, getting a postsecondary degree—in particular a bachelor’s degree—generally results in higher incomes, greater job choice, satisfaction, and security, as well as other outcomes considered good for our society, such as voting and community service.” This is important because if
Our question is, “Does the level of education you receive affect the amount of income you will earn?” Currently, it is said that you need at least a college degree to earn a decent income. This question is often important because in todays society, the amount of money one makes is important to the quality in which one wishes to live. By looking at data we have found through our research it seems as if the higher your level of schooling, reaching anywhere from a high school diploma to a phD, generally leads to a higher average income. In an online article posted on dailyedventures, a close look is taken at five different segments which include, high school diploma or GED, high school diploma, training in vocational schools or associates degree, bachelors degree, and lastly a graduate degree, and specific occupations within those segments. The lowest reported salary came from the first segment, high school diploma or GED. At an average income of only $17,700 a year were waiters/waitresses. The average income increased with the amount of school and the occupation in which you chose, yet this article proved just what we were looking to prove. At an average income of $166,400+ surgeons chimed in, proving that the longer you go to school, the more money you are likely to make. Another article looked at similar information, this time it was against the unemployment rates in the United States. In March 2014 the Bureau of Labor Statistics looked at the earnings and unemployment rate