Survey in China shows wide income gap, By Edward Wong, July 19, 2013, New York Times: “Results of a wide-ranging survey of Chinese family wealth and living habits released this week by Peking University show a wide gap in income between the nation’s top earners and those at the bottom, and a vast difference between earners in top-tier coastal cities and those in interior provinces. The survey found that in 2012, the households in the top 5 percent income bracket earned 23 percent of the nation’s total household income. The households in the lowest 5 percent accounted for just 0.1 percent of total income…”
Tag: Economic insecurity
Asset Poverty – New Orleans, LA
Asset poverty is a big problem in New Orleans, where many have no cash cushion, By Rebecca Mowbray, August 14, 2012, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Some 37 percent of New Orleans households would not be able to survive for more than three months without falling into poverty if their main source of income were disrupted, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the Ford Foundation. While many examinations of poverty look at a family’s income, this study of ‘asset poverty’ looks at how large a financial cushion households have to protect them in times of crisis…”
Asset-Poor Households in the US
Number of asset-poor Americans rising, By Becky Yerak, January 31, 2012, Chicago Tribune: “Luz Pagan, 45, has been working as a part-time cashier at a discount store in downtown Chicago for nearly three years, her requests to become a full-time employee with benefits having gone nowhere. The single mom and her 12-year-old son, Marvin, have been living in a $575-a-month studio apartment on the North Side since November. But with a work schedule averaging 15 to 20 hours a week, in a job paying about $8.75 an hour, Pagan is struggling to cover living expenses and has to scrape together money from friends and family. Her last paycheck netted $64. ‘I’m underemployed,’ said Pagan, who previously lived in a shelter for two months. She has an associate’s degree and would love an office job. Marvin’s dad helps with expenses, but she said she and her son – a mostly A and B student who wants to be a doctor – are living paycheck to paycheck, with no savings. Pagan’s plight is becoming more commonplace. Nationwide, 27 percent of households are ‘asset poor,’ meaning they don’t have enough money tucked away to cover basic expenses for three months in case of a layoff or other emergency that saps income, according to a study to be released Tuesday by the Washington-based Corporation for Enterprise Development…”