Proposal

Over the past few years, income inequality has increased at more extreme rates. This is most likely caused by the lack of communication between the government and the people to solve the issue. In this research essay, we will find out why there is income inequality between states and how it has come to be that way. It will seek out how, why, and where more income inequality occurs and how the United States can learn how to prevent it. By finding this information, we will figure out how we can prevent and learn from income inequality.

Abstract

Income inequality is a major issue in the United States. It is also an issue that has been happening for many years; affecting many people and their lives. How, why, and when are the most important details in discussing this major issue. Through past conflicts like wars, slavery, and economic problems the United States has faced, income inequality for many people has also been passed down from one generation to the next. The essay will also go over interesting statements like if the people of the United States would be able to solve the solution of income inequality, they would be able to come closer to becoming a completely equal society. But what truly is income inequality? Going more in-depth by using these questions and finding facts about inequality can help determine the source and how to eliminate the problem. As it is a threat to the unity of the United States, income inequality. 

You walk into the bank after yet another stressful day. Your employer is lowering the income for you and a few of your other team members because the company is running out of money and because of the color of your skin. This is what people battling income inequality face. But what is income inequality, and how does it affect the United States at this time? In this essay, we look at how, why, and where income inequality tends to occur. By evaluating the historical studies and recent studies of income inequality, we will be able to better understand income inequality. With quarantine and the last coupled decades increasing in newfound ideas, this is a topic that needs to be discussed before we can continue to grow. 

A major issue because of income inequality is race/racism in the United States. Particularly, for black/African American men. Racial income inequality is primarily caused by past racial issues that include slavery, segregation, and discrimination within the past couple of decades. The article, ¨The Black-White Wage Gap Is as Big as It Was in 1950,¨ by the New York Times, states that ¨Despite decades of political change — the end of enforced segregation across the South, the legalization of interracial marriage, the passage of multiple civil rights laws and more — the wages of black men trail those of white men by as much as when Harry Truman was president.¨ It explains that despite political, social, and cultural changes over the past couple of decades, the income inequality has not changed drastically, and has always been averaged around 51 cents, neither for the best nor for the worst. The New York Times article, however, only shows the black men who are employed; not the women or the unemployed black men who are also affected by income inequality. In other states, like Illinois, there is a lot of inequality as well. In the book, “The Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, Mama says “I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers – but ain’t nobody in my family never let anybody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we weren’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. We ain’t never been that – dead inside.” This emphasizes that income inequality is all over the United States, especially in cities with higher/lower class gaps, which have been caused by racial inequality throughout the United States in the last few decades. Even though the book was made in 1994, it's still accurate to the type of lifestyle in today’s society. For black people especially, inequality in the United States has been a major issue while living in the United States and continues to be a big issue. However, one racial group is affected positively by racial inequality; and they are not white.

Asian Americans are affected positively by income inequality.  The article  “Racial, Gender Wage Gaps Persist in the U.S. despite Some Progress.” by the Pew Research center, states that, ¨Only the hourly earnings of Asian men ($24) outpaced those of white men.¨ This shows that Asian Americans are affected by income inequality, but they are affected in a positive way. Asian men outpace white men based on hourly wages in a normal work environment. This is also caused by the stereotype that Asian Americans are naturally born smarter and more intellectual than the rest of the races, but also apart of the historical identity of Asian Americans that have lived in the United States. However, there are people that are affected by the income inequality in a negative way, like the Hispanic and Native American communities.

The Hispanic and Native American communities. The same article, “Racial, Gender Wage Gaps Persist in the U.S. despite Some Progress.” by the Pew Research center, states that ¨ ¨In 2015, average hourly wages for Naive American and Hispanic men were $15 and $14, respectively, compared with $21 for white men.¨ This proves that the Hispanic and the Native American community are both affected greatly by the income inequality of races. They have a larger wage gap than White and Black Americans and are affected a lot by it too. Even within each racial group in the United States, there are still people who aren’t just affected by the racism in their communities; like women. For colored women especially, are affected by sexism and racism.

Sexism in the United States is still a major topic in itself within the United States. Even though it doesn´t seem like it has as many issues as racial inequality, it is still an important aspect of the ideals of today´s society. The article, “Here´s How Gender Wage Gap Affects Black Women.” by CBNC news in 2019, explains that  ¨Black women are paid 61 cents for every $1 that their white male counterparts earn. Among all women, the wage gap is smaller: about 80 cents for each $1.¨ This quote explains that among all females, the income wage is smaller than men. Even though the article was made in 2019, it goes over that specifically for black/colored women´s income has gone up to 79 from 61 cents of a dollar, but there are still gaps in the income inequality. The gap of income inequality has been very disproportionate for women in the United States, especially black women in the last few decades. A good quote that can help explain the racism and sexism for women in the United States in the last century can be found in the book “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry when Walter Lee Younger exclaims that, “That is just what is wrong with the colored women in this world . . . Don’t understand about building their men up and making ‘em feel like they somebody. Like they can do something.” This helps to emphasize that black women even in their own households or communities still are discriminated against and treated differently. Even though this book was written in 1994, it is still very accurate in today’s aspects, especially when it comes to the racism, sexism, and social inequalities that black women face.

Different social class inequalities over the decades and today help to keep income inequality staying at a consistent rate. This is caused by the gap and continuing gap of social class wage inequalities between lower, middle, and higher classes that have been created over time. In the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway explains that “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and . . . then retreated back into their money . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” This helps to explain that the gap between lower and higher class is substantially different when dealing with inequality; especially with income. The income inequality can be shown more thoroughly through the website, “On the Evolution of Income Inequality in the United States” by Elibrary, as it states that “...this increase in inequality is explained mainly by an increase in inequality at the top of the income distribution.” This explains that because of the inequality in income distribution, income inequality has become a major problem, and is still a major problem presently. Another quote from the same source specifies that “Wage inequality trends may be different from the annual income inequality trends discussed in previous sections because of different trends in hours worked across the income distribution.” This is saying that income distribution can also be identified throughout history by the hours and time worked and might be different because of it. However, over the years and decades, income inequality has still been a major problem.

Over the decades, income inequality has drastically changed for some and stayed the same for others. The article “Here´s How Gender Wage Gap Affects Black Women.” by CBNC news in 2019, explains through a graph that even though over the years the income for all people has increased, the difference between the social classes, genders, and races gaps have not been fixed. In another article that goes in-depth to the past couple of decades called “On the Evolution of Income Inequality in the United States” by Elibrary, it says that “The largest decline is a 27 percent decrease in the median income of high school dropouts between 1972 and 1992… since the 1960s, ...the labor force without a high school degree has halved for both males and females, ...10 percent for each gender by 2006. The declines… have stopped in the 1990s.” This helps to explain that through the good and bad times of the economy in America, many wages and incomes have dropped or increased, while it does depend on the economy it also depends on the people as well. In the case of wars, politics, and social aspects overall.

Overall, throughout the history of the United States, income inequality has been a major issue. Income inequality had increased over the past few decades based on racism, sexism, social class, and the historical identity of the United States. In this essay, we looked at how, why, and when income inequality has occurred. By evaluating the historical studies and recent studies of income inequality, we were able to better understand income inequality. With quarantine and the last coupled decades increasing in newfound ideas, technologies, and ideals, this is a topic that needs to be discussed before we can continue to grow. An as the United States grows, more problems and solutions will arise.

Works Cited

Bryan, Kevin A., and Leonardo Martinez. "On the Evolution of Income Inequality in the United States." Economic Quarterly - Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 94, no. 2, 2008, pp. 97-120. eLibrary, explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/204898288?accountid=4535.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 1925
Hansberry, Lorraine. New York. Vintage Books, 1994
Leonhardt, David. “The Black-White Wage Gap Is as Big as It Was in 1950.” The New York Times, 25 June 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/sunday/race-wage-gap.html.  
 O´Brien, Sarah. “Here´s How Gender Wage Gap Affects Black Women.” CNBC News, 22 Aug. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/08/22/heres-how-the-gender-wage-gap-affects-this-minority-group.html. 
Patten, Eileen. “Racial, Gender Wage Gaps Persist in U.S. despite Some Progress.” Fact Tank, Pew Research Center, July 2016, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in-u-s-despite-some-progress/. 
Sallinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown and Company, 1951. 

Annotated Bibliography

Main Question: Why do some people suffer from income inequality more than others?

Bryan, Kevin A., and Leonardo Martinez. "On the Evolution of Income Inequality in the United States." Economic Quarterly - Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 94, no. 2, 2008, pp. 97-120. eLibrary, explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/204898288?accountid=4535.
This website page goes over individual income inequalities between racism, sexism, and levels of education (and/or class) between the 1930s and 2008. They talk about the different data cites that they found that were reliable including the CPS (a current population survey [income inequality]) from the Bureau of Census. They also talked about the different measures of inequality of racism, sexism, and education/class and why each leads to the certain outcome of that group´s income inequality. It also describes the different trends due to where the people work and what state/company they work in. Lastly, they talk about welfare inequality, wealth inequality, and wage inequality that helps to determine income inequality. Overall, this site was very helpful and had a broad enough yet specific enough dialect and research to help the research essay.
Quote: ¨...this increase in inequality is explained mainly by an increase in inequality at the top of the income distribution.¨
Leonhardt, David. “The Black-White Wage Gap Is as Big as It Was in 1950.” The New York Times, 25 June 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/sunday/race-wage-gap.html. 
 Although this site didn´t have many paragraphs, It had many graphs that helped me to analyze the article. The graphs showed that the black-white male income gap is as large as it was in the 1950s, which is about 51 cents of a dollar. Despite political, social, and cultural changes over the past couple of decades, income inequality has not changed drastically and has always been averaged around 51 cents. However, as explained in one of the paragraphs, this only shows the black men that are working, and it does not show the ones who are not employed. The article also goes in-depth as to the upper-middle class, the persistence of the wage gap, and the people who are not employed. This site definitely had a lot of information for my project and gave me statistics that will be helpful to use in my essay.
Quote: ¨Despite decades of political change — the end of enforced segregation across the South, the legalization of interracial marriage, the passage of multiple civil rights laws, and more — the wages of black men trail those of white men by as much as when Harry Truman was president.¨ 
 O´Brien, Sarah. “Here´s How Gender Wage Gap Affects Black Women.” CNBC News, 22 Aug. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/08/22/heres-how-the-gender-wage-gap-affects-this-minority-group.html. 
 This article went over women's income inequality, specifically black women's income inequality. It explains that women overall get paid 80 cents of a dollar, while black women specifically only get paid 61 cents a dollar. Even though the article was made in 2019, it goes over that black women´s income has gone up to 79 cents of a dollar, but there are still gaps in the income inequality. Additionally, the article talks about how other colored people such as Native American and Latin American women still have a big wage gap in how much they get paid, and they generally get paid less than black women.
Quote: ¨Black women are paid 61 cents for every $1 that their white male counterparts earn. Among all women, the wage gap is smaller: about 80 cents for each $1.¨
 Patten, Eileen. “Racial, Gender Wage Gaps Persist in U.S. despite Some Progress.” Fact Tank, Pew Research Center, July 2016, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in-u-s-despite-some-progress/. 
This website helped a lot when it came to income inequality about race. It also talked about Hispanic, Asian, and black men more in-depth and compared them to the white male income inequality. It explains that Asian men outpace white men based on hourly wages in a normal work environment. It also talks about how even with women, Asian women tend to get paid more than white women, whereas black, Hispanic, and Native American women have a larger wage gap that is less than white women. Lastly, this article goes over some of the reasons why there is the wage gap; race/racism, genders, and living areas because of where the people live/lived growing up based on their parent's circumstances.   
Quote: ¨In 2015, average hourly wages for black and Hispanic men were $15 and $14, respectively, compared with $21 for white men. Only the hourly earnings of Asian men ($24) outpaced those of white men.¨
Hansberry, Lorraine. New York. Vintage Books, 1994
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 1925
Sallinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown and Company, 1951.