The numbers continue to play out an increasing gap between rich and poor. I tried to find a good trend chart for wealth/salary gaps over last 50 years, to support the view I have read that it has been a distinct trend since the 1970s.
The BLS does have to hand powerful visuals on the compensation-productivity gap since the 1970s. It makes sense to me that this has continued to widen in the 2000s, with basically the hoarding of capital by the richest organizations and the people behind them. Returns are being made through the re-circulation of wealth between the wealthy (e.g. stock buybacks, activist driven capitalism), such that HBR publishes an article on 'Profits without Prosperity'
It does feel like we have continued to go off balance and that we need to find a way to re balance as the century progresses, for the health of Americans but also to maintain the American dream.
"Median net worth increased between 2000 and 2011 for households in the top two quintiles of the net worth distribution (the wealthiest 40 percent), while declining for those in the lower three quintiles (the bottom 60 percent), according to new statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The result was a widening wealth gap between those at the top and those in the middle and bottom of the net worth distribution. Each quintile represents 20 percent, or one-fifth, of all households"
"The gap between real hourly compensation and labor productivity is a "wage gap" that indicates whether workers' compensation is keeping up with productivity. Since the 1970s, growth in inflation-adjusted, or real, hourly compensation—a measure of workers' purchasing power—has lagged behind labor productivity growth."
Gap Between Higher- and Lower-Wealth Households Widens, Census Bureau Reports - Income & Wealth - Newsroom - U.S. Census Bureau: The source of data for each of these products was the Survey of Income and Program Participation. As in all surveys, these data are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. For further information on the source of the data and accuracy of the estimates, including standard errors and confidence intervals, go to . All dollar figures are in 2011 constant dollars. Comparisons are not based on the same households over time.
The compensation-productivity gap : The Editor’s Desk : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Editor's Desk, The compensation-productivity gap on the Internet athttp://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2011/ted_20110224.htm (visited August 25, 2014).
Profits Without Prosperity - Harvard Business Review by William Lazonick. "Five years after the official end of the Great Recession, corporate profits are high, and the stock market is booming. Yet most Americans are not sharing in the recovery. While the top 0.1% of income recipients—which include most of the highest-ranking corporate executives—reap almost all the income gains, good jobs keep disappearing, and new employment opportunities tend to be insecure and underpaid. Corporate profitability is not translating into widespread economic prosperity"
The BLS does have to hand powerful visuals on the compensation-productivity gap since the 1970s. It makes sense to me that this has continued to widen in the 2000s, with basically the hoarding of capital by the richest organizations and the people behind them. Returns are being made through the re-circulation of wealth between the wealthy (e.g. stock buybacks, activist driven capitalism), such that HBR publishes an article on 'Profits without Prosperity'
It does feel like we have continued to go off balance and that we need to find a way to re balance as the century progresses, for the health of Americans but also to maintain the American dream.
"Median net worth increased between 2000 and 2011 for households in the top two quintiles of the net worth distribution (the wealthiest 40 percent), while declining for those in the lower three quintiles (the bottom 60 percent), according to new statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The result was a widening wealth gap between those at the top and those in the middle and bottom of the net worth distribution. Each quintile represents 20 percent, or one-fifth, of all households"
"The gap between real hourly compensation and labor productivity is a "wage gap" that indicates whether workers' compensation is keeping up with productivity. Since the 1970s, growth in inflation-adjusted, or real, hourly compensation—a measure of workers' purchasing power—has lagged behind labor productivity growth."
Gap Between Higher- and Lower-Wealth Households Widens, Census Bureau Reports - Income & Wealth - Newsroom - U.S. Census Bureau: The source of data for each of these products was the Survey of Income and Program Participation. As in all surveys, these data are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. For further information on the source of the data and accuracy of the estimates, including standard errors and confidence intervals, go to . All dollar figures are in 2011 constant dollars. Comparisons are not based on the same households over time.
The compensation-productivity gap : The Editor’s Desk : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Editor's Desk, The compensation-productivity gap on the Internet athttp://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2011/ted_20110224.htm (visited August 25, 2014).
Profits Without Prosperity - Harvard Business Review by William Lazonick. "Five years after the official end of the Great Recession, corporate profits are high, and the stock market is booming. Yet most Americans are not sharing in the recovery. While the top 0.1% of income recipients—which include most of the highest-ranking corporate executives—reap almost all the income gains, good jobs keep disappearing, and new employment opportunities tend to be insecure and underpaid. Corporate profitability is not translating into widespread economic prosperity"
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