Tag: wages

Fewer Workers in Unions = Growing Income Inequality

08/31/2012; Tula Connell

 Union-Bene

The U.S. public is painfully aware of the growing income inequality in this nation.

Now, a new report shows a big reason why the gap is growing: fewer workers in unions.

Declining unionization was responsible for roughly one-third of the growth of wage inequality among men from 1973 to 2007, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report finds. Declining unionization can explain roughly one-fifth of the growth of wage inequality among women over the same period (click to enlarge chart). Continue reading “Fewer Workers in Unions = Growing Income Inequality”

Labor Day Reports Show Long-Term Income, Wealth Decline

08/31/2012; Tula Connell

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Several new economic reports out in time for Labor Day point to long-term trends that are driving a declining standard of living for America’s middle- and low-income workers. Here’s a quick summary (click on charts to expand).

Middle-class incomes have declined over the past decades. For the past several decades, the share of the economic pie that the middle class receives has decreased and fewer people have earned middle-class incomes, according to the Center for American Progress. “Moreover, the costs of middle-class basics have risen and debt levels have increased.”

The center’s “5 Charts on the State of the Middle Class” offers downloadable versions of each chart.  Continue reading “Labor Day Reports Show Long-Term Income, Wealth Decline”

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