Inequality and Poverty Essay

According to the United States Department of Labor(2016), the unemployment rates among black americans was a staggering 8.6, compared to 4.1 with white americans as of October of 2016. This gap, although much smaller compared to thirty five years ago, shows no trend of changing. Unemployment rates among the minority citizens of america has been consistently about double that of white america for an extremely long amount of time, six decades to be exact, according to Pew Research Center (2013). This is not only an issue in the United States, in the UK nearly half of young black males looking for a job are unemployed. This shows that discrimination is not just a factor in today’s labor force in the United States, but throughout the world as

During the 1950’s and 1960’s there were major changes in civil rights taking place within the United States. In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which sought to create equal opportunity for minority groups in the nation and eliminate discrimination. Shortly thereafter, “the goal of the civil rights movement shifted from the traditional aim of equality of opportunity through nondiscrimination alone to affirmative action to establish ‘goals and timetables’ to achieve absolute equality between blacks and whites” (Dye 253). These goals and timetables were cemented with Executive Order No. 11246, issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. This order is commonly referred to as the foundation for modern-day

Income inequality has slowly become an issue gaining momentum over the last thirty-five years, did we see it coming, I think so. It has always been an issues, only after decades of misleading political leadership spanning decades are people finally fed-up of being misled and lied to. The current election for the next president has brought about a voice of the American people to demand a change within our three failing political systems that govern America. Only this change, I believe is going to bring a country to its knees, the wealth holders are not, going to just step aside and willing unlock the scales of wealth that to encumber its poor, they are going to dig in and hold fast to what they have stolen and hoarded since the time of slavery.

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

“The literature on occupational segregation in the United States has traditionally focused on segregation by gender and more recently has turned its attention to segregation by race and ethnicity. With respect to gender, much research has documented a reduction in segregation in the second half of the twentieth century and stagnation at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Segregation between African Americans and non-African Americans also decreased in the second half of the past century, but segregation between Hispanics and non-Hispanics increase. Racism is ever prevalent in society today but can it truly affect you financially?” (Rio and Alonso-Villar 967-968). Racial stereotypes are everywhere and that they can affect you in getting

Currently there are many problems and flaws with the way the Canadian government’s policies deal with healthcare, income inequality and poverty. Time to time changes in policies have been made, perhaps to improve these issues, however, the gap between rich and poor keeps increasing and there is very little improvement in healthcare and the economy. In fact, healthcare keeps on becoming costly. Major issues like income inequality and poverty are not being taken care of by the government. According to Dr. Raphael (2002) poverty is caused by several reasons such as inequality in people’s income, weak social services and lack of other social supports (p.VI). He states, “Poverty directly harms the health of those with low incomes while income

A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" (Eitzen & Leedham, pg. 37). The main reason as to why income is distributed so unequally is because of the gap between social classes.

According to the U.S. Census Survey of 2000, 35.6% of white men and 44.6% of Asian men were employed in managerial, professional, and related occupations, compared with 25.2% of black men and just 18% of Hispanic men. People could end up in a different occupation because of discrimination. Instead of looking at people’s credentials, such as education and experiences, employers look at skin color. For example, the vice president position has been held by a white male for as long as the company’s been open. It will take some time before they hire a minority in the position because the hiring personnel feels more comfortable hiring someone that is like the other people that held the position.

Many blacks say that they do not want any help from the government in obtaining and keeping a job. Pride in a job is important to just about everybody, and it is much preferred to feel that a success in life has been earned because of qualifications and hard work. In many cases, though, minorities are not paid as well or aren't hired as often as their white colleagues, and this is a powerful motivation to accept a job that you may have gotten over somebody else because of your race. As a side consequence to this, racial tensions build in an affirmative action workplace. This isn't the fault of the employer or the employee, but instead of the system. A study conducted among white students last year at the University of

In today’s modern world, as the technology has developed better daily, whereas the gap referred to income inequality between rich and poor still has not solved but has widened. Income inequality simply refers to the extent to which income is unevenly and unreasonably distributed in manner among a population. The inequality brings economic instability, but sadly most people are not relatively concerned about the wide inequality between classes. Ever since the distance between upper class and middle/lower class has been stretching and growing gradually and markedly for almost 30 years, it has become an important political battleground and deeply troubling in the world, and within the United States over the past few decades. The great disparity is immoral because it leads to wealthier people to unevenly distribute an unacceptable degree of control in a society. The great disparity also undermines in the fairness of political institutions and the economic system over many aspects of the lives of poorer people and also increases depress demand of consumption levels depending more on the wages middle/lower income earners than the profits of the wealthy. From this perspective, the outrageously huge disparity between classes should be eliminated. The best ways to reduce inequality income would be to make fairer taxes which means to lower taxes on middle and lower income earners or even raise the minimum wage effectively since asset prices

Education and poverty is a difficult subject to explore. Many views are held when it comes to the value of education for the underprivileged and whether or not it is the key to removing an individual from an impoverished condition. “The Social Animal”, a book by David Brooks, explores this subject of poverty and education through the life of one of his characters named Erica. Erica comes from an ethnic background, from a broken home, born from parents who did not receive higher educations, and can be considered an underprivileged child. Brooks focuses on the changes Erica goes through in her life from elementary school, all the way to adulthood, and highlights the fact that she was able to attend a

On September 25th of 2015, the United Nations adopted a comprehensive initiative to combat a wide variety of global health issues that currently plague humanity. The initiative, entitled “UN Sustainable Development Goals” includes a list of seventeen goals to be achieved over the next fifteen years and encompasses measures to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. This paper intends to provide an in-depth analysis of the tenth UN

Different social classes can be distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, and wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life span, education, religion, and culture. The 19th century was primarily divided into four distinct social groups (or classes): “upper class”, “middle class”, “working class”, and “under class”. Beneath the working class of industrial workers, submerged the “under class”. They were often referred to as the “sunken people”-- those of which lived in poverty. Each class included a wide range of occupations of varying status and income; there was a large gap between the classes. Early in the 19th century the labels “working classes” and “middle classes” were already coming into frequent

Poverty is the state of having little to no money, goods, or means of support. It is a necessary evil that plagues a part of all countries, ranging from 1.5% of the population in Taiwan, to 80% in Chad. At the root of this problem, as is at the root of many more, is an inequality within today’s society.

Inequality and poverty exist in our society because wealth and opportunity are inherited. If we all entered the world with an equal amount of resources, some would still rise above others but everyone would get the same chance to succeed in life. Since greed is one of the norms of our society, and wealth is passed from generation to generation, there will always be inequality and poverty. The system of wealth and inequality is actually pretty simple. It all boils down to a few things what you start with and how much you earn. Also, what you save and at what rate does your saving return and even greater profit. No one policy can single-handedly beat inequality the roots of the problem extend into the very structure of our economy. However, there are means by which we can change the system of inequality by looking at previous history and the current world today.