6 facts about economic inequality in the U.S.
Over the past 50 years, the highest-earning 20% of U.S. households have steadily brought in a larger share of the country’s total income.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Over the past 50 years, the highest-earning 20% of U.S. households have steadily brought in a larger share of the country’s total income.
Overall, 29% of U.S. adults said they have had more advantages in life than others their age; 26% felt they have had fewer advantages.
Despite some ups and downs over the past several decades, today’s real average wage in the U.S. has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And most of what wage gains there have been have flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.
Pew Research Center President Michael Dimock examines the changes – some profound, some subtle – that the U.S. experienced during Barack Obama’s presidency.
Just what is “economic inequality”? Depends on whom you ask.
Trends in public opinion are in line with Obama’s agenda: The priority given to deficit reduction has slipped somewhat, while public support for rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure has increased.
There are wide gaps between conservative and centrist Republicans on whether the government should do something to reduce poverty and inequality.
A summary of where Americans stand on ten key issues likely to come up in President Obama’s State of the Union address.
Pew Research Center President Andrew Kohut writes in the New York Times while Americans are hearing more and more about class conflict, there is little indication that they are increasingly divided along these lines. Their concerns are about policies that give everyone a fair shot.
Over the past two decades, the number of Americans who see the country as divided along economic lines has increased sharply, and twice as many people now see themselves among the society’s “have-nots.”
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