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The wages and wealth of working America

Written by EPI.org Tuesday, 29 March 2011 00:00

A new EPI paper finds that the distribution of wealth in the United States is even more unequal than the distribution of wages or income. The paper, which comes on the heels of another EPI report showing that wage growth in the United States has fallen far behind productivity growth, offers another indication of how the typical worker lacks economic security.

Top 5% holds 63.5% of the country’s wealth

Wealth, or net worth, refers to an individual’s or a family’s total assets, such as bank account balances, savings, and real estate, minus total liabilities, such as mortgages, debt, and outstanding medical bills. Along with wages and income, wealth is another key measure of economic security and well-being since it strengthens a family’s ability to withstand job loss or other economic distress. In the report The State of Working America’s Wealth, EPI Research Associate and U.C. Berkeley Labor Economist Sylvia Allegretto shows that wealth distribution is highly unequal, with the top 5% of U.S. households holding 63.5% of the country’s total wealth in 2009.

Allegretto notes that foreclosures and falling housing values have devastated the net worth – or wealth – of millions of American households. The vastly unequal wealth distribution seen today, she notes, explains why the economic recovery feels different to different people: “Typical workers and families continue to struggle against high rates of unemployment, stagnating wages, and foreclosure, while the wealthy have enjoyed significant gains in the stock market, and benefited from corporate profits.”

Another recent EPI paper, The Sad but True Story of Wages in America by EPI President Lawrence Mishel and Economist Heidi Shierholz, recasts the recent debate over public sector compensation by showing that wages in both the public and the private sector have fallen far behind gains in U.S. productivity in recent decades. Between 1989 and 2010, U.S. productivity grew by 62.5%, but wages grew by a much lower 12% for both private sector and state/local government workers. The failure of pay to keep up with productivity growth has affected both high school and college graduates, and has persisted through periods of strong economic growth in recent decades.

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