“One measure of inequality compares the incomes of those
near the top (the 80th percentile) with those near the bottom (the 20th
percentile). In 1980, someone near the top earned 2.4 times what someone near
the bottom did, after factoring in housing costs. Now, they earn 2.97 times
more.
Even when inequality by such measures isn't increasing, the
nominal gap between high and low incomes continues to rise.
Since 2007, the pre-tax incomes of households at the bottom
increased by $4000, on average. But at the same time, those at the top had an
average $43,000 rise. Despite this, the ratio between the two stayed roughly
the same.”
--
“Recent studies suggest that inequality isn't just bad for
those at the bottom - it affects people all along the income scale.
One study by the OECD suggests rising inequality was
responsible for wiping a third off New Zealand's economic growth in the past 30
years.”
--
“Max Rashbrooke , editor of Inequality: A New Zealand crisis,
says a growing income gap causes people to "lose their sense of what life
is like for people in the other half".
"They trust each other less, and they care about each
other less and so they're less likely to extend a helping hand and feel like
they've got something in common with everyone else," he says.”
--
“Increasing numbers of New Zealanders under the age of 25
are falling into lower income brackets, while there are very few over 65 at the
bottom of the heap.
Despite this, government payments to those over 65 have
increased dramatically while those to young people have hardly changed. Since
2007, transfers to those over 65 increased from $252 to $319 a week. Average
government payments to 20 to 24-year olds went from $56 to $61 per week over
the same period.”
--
“For some young people, higher education is not helping
much. The proportion of people with bachelors degrees in the lowest income
brackets has steadily increased.”
“Rising housing costs are affecting people on low incomes,
certainly. The international standard is that no one should spend more than 30%
of their income on housing costs, otherwise there just isn’t enough left for
other things. But the percentage of New Zealanders spending more than that on
housing has risen from 11% in the 1980s to 27% now. Most of these will be the
poorest New Zealanders.”
--
“One of the big things that has probably happened in the
last decade is a major increase in wealth inequality, in terms of the assets
that people own.
Fewer and fewer people own their own home; those that do
have seen the value of those homes increase sharply. Since half of all our
assets are held in the form of housing, this (along with other things) means
that wealth inequality has almost certainly been increasing (although we
haven’t been measuring, so it’s hard to be sure).”
No comments:
Post a Comment