Title: Income Inequality in America - Definition, Causes & Statistics
Headings: Income Inequality in America – Definition, Causes & Statistics
Income Inequality in America – Definition, Causes & Statistics
The Great Divergence
A Belief in Fairness and Justice
Causes of Inequality
1. Technology
2. Globalization
3. Government Policy
4. Polarization and Political Dysfunction
Possible Actions to Reduce Income Disparity
Final Word

Content: In short, more people are making less money. Percentage of U.S. Labor Force Employed in Manufacturing & Services, 1938-2008, Source: Ross School of Business
2. Globalization
Technology also spurred the export of jobs to other countries, as trade barriers dropped and the world became a general marketplace. The growth of multinational corporations with allegiance to no particular government and their transfer of intangible assets such as business knowledge, management practices, and training has resulted in hundreds of thousands of jobs moving from America to workers in lower-cost countries. Offshoring has become a common practice enabled by technology that eliminates experience and expertise barriers, as well as by competing governments that impose minimal regulations and offer extravagant tax benefits. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is no reliable data base to determine how many American workers have lost their jobs to offshoring. In an article of the April-June 2009 issue of “World Economics,” Princeton economist Alan Binder estimated that up to 30 million jobs were “offshorable” at that time, including highly technical jobs such as computer programmers, systems analysts, machine operators, and software engineers. Certainly, the threat of offshoring is a deterrent to wage and salary increases for American workers. 3.