According to JP Morgan cost of living survey, their is a growing divide between how high-income and low-income earners in America perceive the economy. High-income earners are far more optimistic about the economic conditions, while lower-income workers are definitely less confident. The data from JP Morgan's survey suggest that we're in a "K-shape" economy, which is an economy where different groups experience very different outcomes. This article also did a great job of highlighting a lot of statistics to back up its experience.
According to the survey, high-income earners had a confidence level of 6.2 on a scale of 1-10, while the low income workers had a average confidence level of 4.4. Along with this statistic 6 out of 10 high-income consumers said that paying bills have been easier to cover while 30% of lower income earners have said so showing a 30% gap in-between. This survey raises the question on what we could do to make life easier on these lower-income earners. With that being said with helping theme it requires a mix of short-term relief and long term changes that can make the economy more sustainable as well.
3 comments:
Mitchell, is this unusual for a 'capitalist' economy such as the United States? This seems fairly typical, do you know if the disparity has grown over that past few years?
I agree with Trip on this as this seems typical and I would imagine there were other periods of time when the disparity was large. I wonder if the politicization of the economy has anything to do with this...
It's eye opening to see how differently people are experiencing the same economy. I think closing the gap will require a long-term process.
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