“A record of 94,708,000 Americans are not in the labor force as of May 2016.” CNS news took this information from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on June third 2016. This is an all time high for unemployment in the United States. The possible reason why so many Americans aren’t working could be due to the fact that the way money is distributed in America isn’t what they people think it is, and it isn’t even close to the ideal. Another reason why Americans aren’t working could be that a small portion of the U.S. owns a large portion of all the earnings, and the CEOs of companies are making a ridiculous amount more than their workers. “A Harvard businessman interviewed 5,000 Americans on how they thought wealth in …show more content…
This means that means that the rest of the wealth is being spread between 99% of the county with the top 20% receiving most of it. Due to this fact, 15% of America’s population is in poverty (Wealth Inequality in America video). The system of wealth distribution has gotten so skewed that not even most Americans know how bad it’s gotten. Another problem with this is that that one percent that owns all the wealth, also is invested in 50% of the stocks, bonds, and mutual funds and everyone else that isn’t in the top 20% only have a half a percent invested between all of …show more content…
With the way the U.S. is today with wealth distribution and with the way things are set up, I’m not surprised that so many people aren’t working. Americans thoughts on how wealth is divided is so far from the reality. No one really knows how wealth is getting distributed, no one knows that 1% of Americans owns almost half the wealth and they certainly don’t know that the CEOs of companies are getting paid 380 times as much as their average workers. I believe that it’s because of these factors that so many people are unemployed which has also lead to rapid increase of
The unemployment rate has dramatically increased over the last several months. This increase has created many complications for the American people. Although the United States economy has created over 7 million jobs, there is still a long way to go until the economy is back on track.
In a research of Harvard professor 5000 people in America have opinion in how they think about the actual distribution of wealth in the U.S. and the 92 percent choose the ideal would be 20 percent and 20 percent the middle class. However, the reality is very far from it. “The poorest are not even registered, they are on the package change and the middle class is barely distinguished from the poor, even the rich between the 10 % and 20 % are worst off, only the top 10 % are better off. Only the one percent gets ten time higher and 40 % all the nation wealth. The bottom 80 % 8 out 10 people only has 7 % between them.1 % makes a quarter of the national income today”(you tube, 2015). All of this data reflex one of the truly perspectives in economy of the U.S. Not only people with low wages are the most affected, but also those who have good jobs and
The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Despite the high levels of affluence there are still millions of Americans that do not share this wealth. The deprivation of the basic necessities affects the quality of people’s lives. Unemployment comes in several forms and affects millions of people at any given time. People often find themselves out of a job because of the economy. Sometimes people have a job but the job that they are working is no longer thriving like they once was before.
To me, this is immensely troubling. I believe opportunity should be based on ability rather than one’s starting point. Wealth inequality poses a serious threat to future generations like mine, who, in pursuit of the American Dream, will find upward mobility nearly impossible. Disenfranchised, desire for innovation and growth will cease. Fearful of the dangerous repercussions, I examined how to reduce wealth inequality in an AP U.S. History paper. I found that Americans lack financial literacy, and this in turn exacerbates existing inequality.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, at least according to the proverb. If no one wants to work and work without reward, then why do so many people? Simply because they do not have a choice. Those people are called the working poor. Although the term "working poor" is not consistently defined, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the working poor are people who spend 27 weeks or more a year “in the labor force” either working or looking for work, but whose incomes fall below the poverty line. The working poor consists of 22.5% of America's 46.2 million poor people. Although it may seem like a small percentile, it still equates to a staggering 10.4 million people ("A Profile of the Working Poor, 2011"). 10,400,000 is an obscene number of working people coping with the tremendous pressures of income instability. Yet, when the national discussion of a “jobs crisis” arises, the focus is predominantly on unemployment, marginalizing this large group of Americans. Further examination of America's current socioeconomic state also reveals the financial, political, and social marginalization of the working poor.
In 1978, the richer household was 220 times wealthier than the average household. Today, the richer household is an astonishing 1,220 times wealthier than the average household. Robert Putnam, a Public Policy Professor at Harvard University said the following about the situation: “We’re moving toward an America that none of us has ever lived in, a world of two Americas, a completely economically divided country.” This may seem dramatic, but in many ways, this is a new reality for millions of Americans. We have begun to settle for a lower standard of living blaming our lack of wealth on “the poor economy.” This is an erroneous position which the top 1% thrives upon.
The non citizens of America, also known as illegal immigrants have taken the jobs from American families.In fact, according to the economic collapse, a million Americans have applied for a job at McDonald's.Which really shows how desperate some Americans are.Similar to that,according to PEW research center ,about 5.6 illegal immigrants are working. Doing the math, this means that there are 5.6 desperate Americans that could be working. Instead, due to these illegals,
Capitalism has been the central force behind the growth of the United States’ progressive economy. Within such advanced economic system the chances of economic disparity are significantly high. In fact, over the past three decades there has being a steady increase in unequal wealth distribution among the economic classes. To sustain the current unequal wealth distribution among the classes of the American population, there are numerous factors that influence and shape this trend. For some members of the population it is alarmingly disturbing to know that recent statistics have shown that, “In the US [alone] the wealthiest 1% of its population owns more than the bottom 95 %” (Gutman). As for the difference in economic wealth, it resulted
In “The Way to Wealth” by Benjamin Franklin, he writes “We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly” (Franklin 237) trying to prove a point that not only are people being taxed an outrageous amount, people are taxing themselves extra by our actions. Throughout Franklin’s writing he explains how an American economy should work, along with how a person can maintain and help to keep the economy stabilized for themselves. In the American world today, about 5.0% of people find themselves facing unemployment, a time of stress and conflict among the self, families and friends. Not only are the unemployment rates
Not only are workers oppressed, but because of false consciousness they think that the more they work, the more they achieve; when in reality, working towards prosperity leads to less time to enjoy what they worked for. This false consciousness prevents people from seeing that they cannot truly achieve the “American Dream” because of the nature of their social and economical situation.
As previously stated, time and money are what helps America run efficiently, But, as Allison Schrager states in her news article ”Unemployment holds steady at 5.1%, but only 59.2% of Americans have a job...”. She is posing if 5% of Americans cannot receive jobs and 59% do have them, what are the rest doing? Schrager follows up her questions by talking about the skill requirements of jobs push people who cannot work, “...a majority of people are out of the labor force due to the fact they might be retired or cannot find work as a result of their skills are not useful… ”. So as more people want jobs, they find those jobs more out of
It’s conclusively the birth of inequality and the reduction in employment it’s a concern. In addition, workplaces are creating other complex issues for American families. Although, the rich American’s sustaining wealth, living a privileged life, the poor are at a poverty level striving to survive. Realizing the demands for jobs in the U.S. will provide opportunities the American families. Understanding the Americans object to jobs relocating to third world countries retaining employment in America will decrease the unemployment rate in the United States. However, it makes it impossible when there’s inadequacy of job when preserving employment or revenue to produce new jobs, because, jobs are outsourced to other countries. It’s problematic for
Every American dreams of finding a job that pays well enough so that they may comfortably take care of their loved ones and themselves for years to come. Most Americans hope to find some way to make a living that they enjoy, something that they view as productive. Unfortunately, many do not have this luxury. In our society, a good portion of the population is forced to hold the base of our country in place while hardly being redeemed for their time and effort, and thus the problem of income inequality. Numbers of these people live from paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by, not because they manage their money poorly, but because the value of their time at work is negligible.
There are many inequalities prevalent in the US, and as a capitalist society, one of the most common is economic inequality. The Equality Trust defines economic inequality, as the gap between the well off and less well of in regards to overall economic distribution (“How Is”). See, our capitalist society strongly benefits those with a capitalist mentality and can afford the means to invest/own capital. Over the years there has been an increasing wealth gap between the top one percent earners and the general population. So why are the rich flourishing while the poor are struggling in this capitalist environment? The policy decisions of our country allow this inequality to permeate throughout our industries, thus creating a culture of power and greed. One result of this culture is the explosion of high salaries in the US and Emmanuel Saez explains this trend in Striking it Richer. Saez affirms, “Indeed, estimates based purely on wages and salaries show that the share of total wage and salaries earned by the top 1 percent wage income earners has jumped from 5.1 percent in 1970 to 12.0 percent in 2006” (Grusky 89). Too bad that the 99 percent of America missed out on this massive economic growth spurt. When economic growth is not evenly distributed among the general population, people tend to question our entire system. This has been an increasingly controversial issue, where corporate America is responsible for the constant exploitation of low-level employees. Through my
Basically, as long as they are getting paid to not work, many people will put off accepting a job.