Income inequality is a big topic in the USA, one that should be addressed and worked on. This issue has caused many factories to close and move overseas in order to make products much cheaper than they could in the US, leaving many jobless. Because of this, people are unable to care for their household. They aren’t able to get sick or take sick days, have no health insurance and even visit the hospital regularly for checkups. The rich got richer while the poor continues to get poorer due to the inequality in the workplace. So, why is this such a big issue? Well, there is a multitude of reasons for this to become such a big issue. Income inequality occurs in many different ways from different sexes earning more money for the same job, education hindering many from getting a high paying job, and wealth allowing the rich to get richer while the poor continues to get poorer. A large reason for this issue occurs within the factories, the US is fighting to compete with China and their low paying jobs. China distributes goods made from workers who make little to nothing for their work. In the US, this is illegal and this makes it impossible for the US to compete with China in that way. Because of this, many factories are packing up all together and moving overseas in order to compete, using workers from China who are again, paid little to nothing. This causes the US to take a hit, many losing their jobs because of the factories leaving or the remaining factories paying their workers the least amount legally possible. These people are unable to take sick days, have no pension and no health insurance. Many use the hospital as a regular doctor due to being unable to visit a real doctor.
Another huge factor is education, a higher education allows for higher paying jobs thus a better income. However, this ties into the rich getting richer and poor remaining poor. Families who have a lower income, often struggle when it comes to education. Many families are unable to send their children through college, often causing said child to dropout of college or never go in the first place due to low income in the household. This causes the gap between rich and poor to continue to grow. Those with more income in the household, are able to send their children through college where they receive a higher education and are given much better jobs and opportunities, while the lower income households are stuck working low income jobs such as factory jobs, service jobs, and other less than positions.
Racial discrimination is something that has been occurring in the workplace for a long time and is another factor in the gap that is income inequality between races. There have been multiple studies done to test this theory, one showing results that prove there is racial discrimination when it comes to hiring employees. Names that sound more white, have been shown to be more likely to get a call back for a job, while names that sounded more black or hispanic, were often overlooked despite the same quality in each resume. This issue causes more white Americans to succeed and gain higher positions and better paying jobs, increasing their income who the minority is stuck with the lower income jobs, unable to acquire a higher education because of the lack of income to pay for it.
The last issue I am going to cover is monopolies and how people with a particular training can request higher pay than others and receive it because said position has a limited number of people qualified for the job. This causes an inequality in income because there will be a pay gap due to this specific position gaining a higher income because their position has a limited number of people who are able to do the job or want to do the job.
There are many different reasons for income inequality and each and every one of them is important to learn about and understand so that you are aware of inequality in case you are ever faced with it when it comes to a job.
Citations
- “Income Inequality.” Inequality.org, https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
- “Income Inequality Affects Our Children’s Educational Opportunities.” Equitable Growth, 18 Apr. 2018, https://equitablegrowth.org/income-inequality-affects-our-childrens-educational-opportunities/
- “Why Is There a Gender Pay Gap?” Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/economic-inequality-by-gender https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
- https://equitablegrowth.org/income-inequality-affects-our-childrens-educational-opportunities/
- https://ourworldindata.org/economic-inequality-by-gender
