May 4, 2018

Boxscore: The American economy

Institute for Policy Studies

Between 1973 and 2016, hourly compensation increased just 12.3 percent, while productivity increased 73.7 percent.  This has been accompanied by anti - union policies like “right to work” laws that have undermined workers’ power to bargain collectively.

Between 1968 and 2017, the share of U.S. workers in unions fell from 24.9 percent to 10.7 percent.

Since 1968, the top 1 percent's share of national income has nearly doubled while the official poverty rate for all U.S. families has merely inched up and down. The 400 wealthiest Americans now own more than the bottom 64 percent of the U.S. population

Nearly 41 million Americans live below the federal poverty line. In absolute terms, White people made up 42.5 percent of this population (17.3 million), and the next two largest groups are Latinx (11.1 million) at 27.4 percent, and Black Americans (9.2 million) at 22.7 percent.

Nearly 140 million people (43.5 percent) are either poor or low - income under the alternative Supplemental Poverty Measure. “Low income” in this context means a household making less than twice the poverty line.

Almost four in ten children spend at least one year of their lives in poverty, meaning that there has been a rise, also, in the number of poor families.

Over the past 30 years, rents have gone up faster than income in nearly every urban area in the country.  In 10 2016, there was no state or county in the nation where an individual earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour could afford a two - bedroom apartment at market rent.  As of 2017, for every 100 extremely low - income renters, a mere 35 will find affordable housing. Cuts in federal housing assistance and affordable, subsidized housing since the 1970s have contributed to rising structural homelessness.

America has become a debtor nation. Excluding the value of the family car, 19 percent of all U.S.  households, 30 percent of Black households, 27 percent of Latinx households, and 14 percent of White households have zero wealth or their debts exceeded the value of their assets.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Magnificent website. Plenty of helpful information here.
I am sending it to some friends ans also sharing
in delicious. And naturally, thank you on your effort!