what is income inequality 
income inequality refers to how unevenly income is distributed throughout a population the less equal the distribution the greater the income inequality income inequality is often accompanied by wealth inequality which is the uneven distribution of wealth populations can be divided up in different ways to show different levels and forms of income inequality such as income inequality by gender or race different measures such as the gini index can be used to analyze the level of income inequality in a population understanding income inequalityincome inequality or the imbalance of income earned by a group people exists in countries throughout the world in the u s these differences in income have become pronounced over the past fifty years income inequality is not the same as wealth inequality the former involves salaries wages while the latter involves net worth some of the factors that affect income inequality include 123globalization the increase in trade among nations resulted in the move of manufacturing and other jobs by corporations in the u s to countries where labor costs were cheaper for working class and middle class americans this meant that secure even generational jobs and income disappeared advances in technology while a boon in many ways certain workplace technological advancements such as automation have led to the loss of jobs for blue collar workers and lower wages for less educated workers gender and race bias income disparities have always been clearly visible for women and people of color it s widely acknowledged that for example male employees typically earn more than female employees in the same job positions likewise white males earn more than non white males education workers with less than a high school education experience less growth in wages than those with college educations and post graduate degrees the announcements of multi million dollar salaries and bonuses even in troubling economic times going to c suite executives drives this income disparity home economic conditions when economic conditions weaken financial turmoil unemployment slowing business investment and more can affect incomes taxation although high income earners pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes than lower income earners federal taxation has not put the brakes on increasing income inequality that may be due to certain tax policies e g those related to corporate taxation the capital gains tax rates and income tax cuts that benefit those with higher income more than those with lower income some degree of income inequality is to be expected because of basic differences in talent effort and simple chance however according to the international monetary fund imf too much income inequality could erode social cohesion lead to political polarization and ultimately lower economic growth 3political upheaval and the disappearance of social educational and economic opportunities to improve standards of living and financial futures can also be consequences of income disparity income inequality and income disparity can be analyzed through a variety of segmentations income distributions by demographic segmentation form the basis for studying income inequality and income disparity the different types of income segmentations studied when analyzing income inequality may include 