Highlights from: Neo-Liberal Economic Policies in the United States (by Kim Scipes) By Eric Ferris
It seems that things are changing economically for US citizens, and not for the better. The interesting part is that most Americans are not aware of the changes that are taking place. The economic changes are being hidden beneath a cloud of cultural wars. Issues such as drug abuse, abortion, gay and lesbian marriage, and gun control to name a few, are in the forefront of everyday life and completely overshadow the economic changes. These issues are being pushed by the well-off to mask the financial changes that are being enacted to make the rich richer and make the poor poorer. The following are statistics that demonstrate the ways that the economy is making it tougher for the average worker:
-Between 2000 and 2005, the entry level wages of male and female college graduates fell by 7.3% ($19.72/hr) and 3.5% (17.08/hr) respectively. -Between 2000 and 2005, the entry level wages of male and female high school graduates fell by 3.3% ($10.93/hr) and 4.9% ($9.08/ hour) respectively. -24% (one out of every four) of all working Americans received wages below the poverty level in 2004. -If the health care sector was excluded (health care added 1.7 million jobs in 2006), the US unemployment rate would be 1 to 2 percentage points higher. -In 2000, 71% of all college graduates got health care coverage in entry level jobs whereas in 2005 (only 5 years later), 64% got health care coverage. -In 1979, 2/3 high school graduates got health care coverage in entry level jobs. -The average duration of unemployment rose from 12 months to 18 months between 2000 and 2004. Unemployment benefits only last 6 months, and after 6 months, they are not factored in the unemployment statistics, making the unemployment rate look artificially low. -African American unemployment is twice that of Caucasian Americans and Hispanic American unemployment is one and a half times that of their white counterparts. -The average pay of the replacements jobs for the 2.6 million jobs lost during the first 2 years of the Bush Administration has decreased by an average of $9,000 (from $45,629 to $34,378)
While the economic climate is not favoring the low and the middle class, the wealthy in the country are not falling on the same economic hardships. The following statistics are going to demonstrate this:
-Between 1973 and 2001, the wage and salary income of Americans in the 90 th percentile (the top 90 percent of the country based on income) rose 34%, or about 1% each year. -The income of those in the 99 th percentile rose 87% in that same span of years (their average income was $402,306) -The income of the 99.9 th percentile rose 181% in that same span of years (their average income was $1,672,726). -The income of the 99.99 th percentile rose 479% in that same span of years.
The following table divides the country into quintiles base on income (Each quintile represents 20% of the populations. These quintiles are divided based on the average income of the 20% of the people in each segment).
The years between 1947 and 2001 are divided into two different periods. These periods are 1947-1973 (better known as the “golden years”) and 1973-2001. Each period contains roughly the same number of years (26 and 28 respectively). What is noteworthy is that in the years between 1947 and 1973, there was close to, if not a 100% increase in the average income in all of the quintiles. The highest paid quintile’s average income rose close to the same as the lowest paid quintile (91% and 97%; the low quintile actually had a later increase that the high quintile). This is in stark contrast to the years between 1973 and 2001. The increases in money were not as drastic (ranging between a 14% increase to a 58% increase), and during these years, the already wealthy had a much larger increases than the lowest paid (58% compared to 14%). In fact, the higher quintile that a person belonged to, the larger increase they had. In short, this table demonstrates that society in the most recent 28 years has become much more unequal than the 26 years before.
All of the above information, statistics, and the table were taken from:
Scipes, K. (2007). Neo-liberal economic policies in the United States: The impact on American workers. Retrieved on February 24, 2007 from: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=19&ItemID=12018
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