[PEN-L:1909] Inequality in the States

[D Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>]

U.S. RICH-POOR GAP IS WIDEST

   The United States has the widest gap between
rich and poor of any of the world's largest
industrial countries, according to a report by the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development.
   The report was more comprehensive than earlier
studies that had reached similar conclusions and was
designed, in part, to answer conservative analysts'
criticism of the earlier surveys.  The Paris-based
OECD is a consortium of the world's 25 wealthiest
nations and aims to coordinate their economic
policies.
   According to the report, the income of an
American adult in the 90th percentile -- who takes
home more than 90% of all Americans -- is 5.9 times
the income of an adult in the 10th percentile.  By
comparison, in Finland, a 90th percentile adult
earns only 2.59 times as much as one in the 10th
percentile.
   The OECD survey covered the 1980s, but a Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities study found that the
trend toward increasing inequality has continued.
The Centre's analysis of Census Bureau data for the
1989-1994 period found that:

   --Household income dropped for all groups except
      the richest.
   --The bottom 40% of households received a record
      low of only 12.5% of income.
   --The top 20% of households took in nearly half
      (49.1%) of income -- a record high.  The top
      5% of household received 21.2% of income,
      another record high.
   --The top 20% of households garnered four times
      as much income as the bottom 40%.

[An accompanying chart, based on data from the
Census Bureau and the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities, shows that between 1989 and 1994,
incomes of the poorest fifth of the population in the States
fell 7.5%; incomes of the second poorest fifth fell 7.6%;
incomes of the middle fifth fell 6.3%; incomes of the
next richest fifth rose 3.6%; and incomes of the richest
5% of the population increased 10.8%.]

                      -- Economic Notes