Equality is one of the biggest concerns in most societies. Independent of philosophy, culture, or religion, the society always care about this growing issue. Inequalities are shown in diverse ways by people’s position in the distribution of wealth or income but could also be related to other characteristics like having a disability, different ethnicity or background or gender. In the 2005 World Development Report elaborated by the World Bank, it is stated: “We now have considerable evidence that equity is also instrumental to the pursuit of long-term prosperity in aggregate terms for society as a whole” (World Bank,2005). However, the increasing growth inequality experienced in many developed and developing countries in recent times is …show more content…
(Castillo-Merino, Sjoberg 2008). The impact in inequality is argued to occur in both ways, through the increasing demand for skilled workers and by the elimination of lower and middle skill jobs which leads to an increasing competition for these lower-wage jobs. (Kochan, Riordan 2015)
Another reason given for explaining inequality is Globalization. It is argued that the increase in trade and offshoring has contributed to income inequality. Countries such as India, China and Brazil are known to have very cheap labour costs and have become more competitive in the global market. As a result, when imports from these countries arrive, the products manufactured in the host country cannot compete with the prices, leading to job losses in these industries. Some studies have showed that since the 80’s, USA lost over one-third of its manufacturing jobs, additionally, workers that were displaced from manufacturing jobs but regain employment suffered a reduction in their wages of at least 20% Offshoring has also make an impact in jobs and wages, US firms during 2002-2008 had an increase in offshoring practices due to lower cost and “this resulted in an advantage by higher-skilled workers who undertake more abstract and communication dependent tasks in their jobs”(Kochan, Riordan 2015). Another growing issue in certain countries is immigrants, and especially those that arrive illegally. They are more
Now more than in recent past is economic and wealth inequality a crucial issue in
Financial loss, divorce, long commute times can befall a person because of the rapid growth of income inequality. But one mustn’t look at statistical analytics to see the reasons behind the falling outs but rather at what causes do these people not have higher incomes, marriage and living problems. These persons undoubtedly make bad decisions in their homes and work place-they may be very rude to clients, don’t take their job seriously, or are unorganized individuals-and therefore may be fired for their behavior and must take on a reduced income at a measly job because nobody else will accept them. They carry all of their problems
Living in a society that does not help its people to live comfortably and provide facilities for them to achieve their demands, is harmful. One of these harmful affections is “social inequality” in each diverse society. Social inequality occurs when resources in each society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. The United States contains one of the most common social inequalities for its population and that is “social stratification and mobility” and the government should strictly investigate this social inequality for people who are living in the United States.
"How Economic Inequality Harms Societies." Richard Wilkinson:. TED Talks, July 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being.
According to Hernaes (2017), technology in the United States has been growing. With the growth of technology, more “blue-collar” jobs are being replaced. Inequality is increasing because the jobs being replaced are lower wage jobs. The reason for inequality is that those in the lower class, and even the middle class are losing their jobs. Those in the upper class mostly retain their jobs because their labor requires more skilled labor. The income gap increases because the wealthy can allocate their spendings on other resources, or cheaper resources that will replace labor. The loss of these jobs would cause the poor to become poorer, and the rich become richer. The supply of labor demanded would decrease, resulting in fewer workers. The growth of technology began as a “slow train since the 1980s.” Technology has been growing “exponential[ly]” ever since (Jones, 1998).
Economic Inequality is the thing that makes the United States the Land of Opportunity to many immigrants. Many Immigrants relocate themselves and/or families for the purpose of experiencing “The American Dream”. The American Dream is the dream of Democracy, Equality and a better opportunity through hard work and dedication. Without the American Dream, there wouldn’t be any inventors or hard workers. If everyone in America was paid the same no matter what occupation, they had, the United States would’ve been a Socialist country. In order to avoid being a Socialist country, America turned to Economic Inequality. The United States accepted Economic Inequality because of the belief that capitalism can’t work without it. Economic Inequality creates the gap that separates the Rich from the poor based off of the wages one gets from their occupation. As Economic Inequality helped the United
Income inequality in the United States has been increasing gradually as from the 20th century where there was economic stability. It is estimated that around a quarter of the American worker population receives not more than $10 in an hour. Through this condition, it creates an income that is below what the federal poverty level demands. Those who receive low income include the fast food employees, cashiers, nurse's aides and many more. Other individuals get good payments which are above $10 per hour. Wealth inequality in America is quite common as there are those who are the major economic block and those who can’t afford even the three meals in a day. The social issues that income and wealth inequality might cause in the United States include poverty, household debts becoming high, high crime rates, no health insurance for the low-income families, high mobility rates, high crime rates and school dropouts.
High income inequality prevents an economy from growing, so the current status of the wealth gap in the U.S. is dangerous to the future of the U.S. economy. In fact, the average income of the top 10% of the United States population is roughly nine times greater than the average income of the poorest 10% of the population (OECD). This widening wealth gap is a problem of extreme importance and failure to recognize it may lead to social problems such as a rise in crime and overall social unrest. A continuing rise in this wealth gap affects all U.S. citizens as the bottom 99% may lose opportunities in education and be exposed to more crime, and the top 1% may lose consumers as no one will be able to afford their products. Furthermore, due to this rising gap, ordinary children of the masses, who are from the bottom 40%, are being denied to educational opportunities because they cost more money (Ingraham). Regardless if a child is born into a wealthy or poor family, they are still born with the same attributes; however, it is income inequality that creates inequality in educational opportunities for children, which threatens the overall educational status quo of the nation. A major wealth gap in any society is strongly associated with significant problems such as greater poverty levels, more crime, and even poor conditions of health (Partridge and Weinstein).
Inequality is a problem that has had an effect on the United States for many years. Although throughout the years the severity of inequality has fluctuated, it has increased greatly within the past two decades. There are many factors that could have influenced this increase. Some of the factors include technology and deindustrialization.
In America there are lots of jobs but many of them are "bad jobs". “Bad jobs” are typically considered those that pay low wages and do not include access to health insurance and pension benefits. About one in seven jobs in the United States is bad on these three dimensions. Nonstandard employment strongly increases workers' exposure to bad job characteristics, net of controls for workers' personal characteristics, family status, occupation, and industry. America's "bad jobs" are included in inequality because no one has tried to make new jobs or make the "bad jobs" better.
Deindustrialization, global outsourcing, and automation has significantly contributed to the rise of the underclass in the US in that it has taken jobs from individuals through replacement of tasks that were initially handled by humans with machines, outsourcing of productions lines in other countries where there are cheap labor or dysfunctional labor laws, leading to rise in underclass populations (Dau-Schmidt, 2016). Through deindustrialization, firms have been forced to transfer their production plants from the United States to other countries such as China, leading to massive reduction in the demand for manual labor and consequently contributing to the rise of underclass in the United States
Income inequality has been a major concern around the world, and it mainly links to how economic metrics are distributed among individuals in a country. Economists generally categorise these metrics in wealth, income and consumption. Wilkinson and Picket (2009) showed in their studies that inequality has drawbacks that lead to social problems. This is because income inequality and wealth concentration can hinder or delay long term growth. In 2011, International Monetary Fund economists showed that less income inequality increased the duration of countries’ economic growth spells more than free trade, low government corruption, foreign investment or low foreign debt (Berg and Ostry, 2011).
Trade tends to increase the demand for skilled workers relative to unskilled workers, thus worsening wage inequality. Immigration of unskilled workers decreases the supply of skilled workers relative to unskilled workers, thus worsening wage inequality. Alternatively, college education increases the supply of skilled workers relative to unskilled workers, thus reducing wage inequality
The questions are raised as what and how the wealth is distributed or allocated among societies. Countries with similar average incomes can differ substantially when it comes to people’s quality of life such as social justice, access to education and health care, job opportunities, availability of clean air and safe drinking water, the threat of crime, freedom of speech, life expectancy, birth-death control, identity, culture, conservation, equal opportunities, environmental change. Development is important as it covers a wide range process involving cultural, economic, environmental, political, social and technological change of a country. Regarding goals and means of development, recent United Nations documents emphasize on human development measured by life expectancy, adult literacy, access to all three levels of education as well as people‘s average income which is a necessary condition of their freedom of choice. In other words, human development incorporates all aspects of individuals’ well -being from their health status to their economic and political freedom. The Human Development Report 1996 of UNDP focuses on development as the end and economic growth a