EPI in the news

• 12 US metro areas where the 1 percent make over 40 times more than everyone else

   

  The gap between the rich and everyone else is only getting wider. That’s according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which used the latest available data to analyze how the top 1 percent and the bottom 99 percent across the U.S. have fared between 1917 and 2015. “In 2015, the top 1 percent of families in the U.S. earned, on average, 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99 percent — an increase from 2013, when they earned 25.3 times as much,” the EPI reports. And in some areas, the gap is even more severe. In the Jackson, Wyoming, metro area, home to the luxurious Jackson Hole ski resort, the top 1 percent earns an astonishing 132 times more than the bottom 99 percent. (whole story)

  CNBC | July 20, 2018
• US income inequality continues to grow

   

  The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, at least in the United States. The top 1 percent of families took home an average of 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99 percent in 2015, according to a new paper released by the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. This has increased since 2013, showing that income inequality has risen in nearly every state. (whole story)

  CNBC | July 20, 2018
• Wealth inequality in the U.S. is almost as bad as it was right before the Great Depression

   

  The gap between the rich and the poor in America has ballooned over the last several decades. In 2015, the top 1% of Americans made 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99 percent — an increase from 2013, when they earned 25.3 times as much, according to a study released Thursday from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C. think tank. A family needed an annual income of $421,926 to be part of the 1% nationally, the study said, but in some states the threshold was higher. The top 1% of Americans took home more than 22% of all income in 2015, the study found. That’s the highest share since a peak of 23.9% just before the Great Depression in 1928. (whole story)

  MarketWatch | July 20, 2018
• This map shows how bad income inequality is in your state

   

  The map was created by the Economic Policy Institute to go along with their report on income inequality across America. Their report found that income inequality has risen in almost every state since the 1970s. Other findings from the study:

  • From 2009 to 2015, the incomes of the top 1% grew faster than the incomes of the bottom 99% in 43 states and the District of Columbia.
  • The top 1% captured half or more of all income growth in nine states.

  In 2015, a family in the top 1% nationally received, on average, 26.3 times as much income as a family in the bottom 99%. (whole story)

  Fast Company | July 20, 2018
• In 2015, The Top 1 Percent In Mass. Earned 31 Times The Average Of Everyone Else

   

  Massachusetts has the sixth-biggest gap between its highest-paid residents and everyone else, according to a new report, with the state’s top 1 percent of families in 2015 earning 31 times what the average of the bottom 99 percent made. The analysis, out Thursday from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, cites tax data to examine income inequality by state, metro area and county. Its methodology uses income before taxes and transfers, like unemployment benefits. The average income of the top 1 percent of families in Massachusetts in 2015 was $1.9 million, according to EPI. That’s about 31 times the average income of everyone else that year, which was around $62,000. (whole story)

   

  WBUR | July 20, 2018
• A Stunning Glance at the Geography of U.S. Income Inequality

   

  All politics, the old political saw goes, is local. By the same token, all economics may be local, too. We don’t experience our economy as a national or a global phenomenon. We experience our economic life in much more localized spheres. Researchers at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based progressive think tank, have understood this reality for decades now. They’ve supplemented their nationally focused work with a series of landmark collaborations that explore how our unequal economic order is playing out at the subnational level. (whole story)

  Inequality.org | July 20, 2018
• How unequal is New Orleans? See where city, Louisiana fall on income inequality rankings

   

  Who is the “1 percent?” In Louisiana, it’s a household earning at least $318,393 per year.  A new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute offers easy-to-read data on income inequality (the unequal distribution of income among people who are making money) throughout the U.S., examined by state, city and metropolitan area. Authors Estelle Sommeiller and Mark Price echo the conclusion of many other economists: in most states and nationwide, incomes for a very small group of households are growing much faster than incomes for the remaining 99 percent of households. In nine states, just 1 percent of families has captured half or more of all income growth since the Great Recession.  (whole story)

  The Advocate | July 20, 2018

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