Manhattan has the widest income gap in America. According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which was released on Thursday, it was revealed that the income gap in Manhattan, New York is widening.
5 percent of the 1,626,159 Manhattanites, make about $864,394, which is an increased of 9 percent in 2013 compared to 2012.
The impressive 9 percent bump gave Manhattan the largest income gap in the country. A household that earns $864,394, is 88 times wealthier than the poorest 20 percent living in the New York City borough.
Andrew Beveridge who is a Queens College sociologist explained that the income gap was widened during the final year of the Bloomberg administration because the cost of housing rose.
Almost half of New York City households said they spent 35 percent or more of their income on housing (Jimmy McMillan was right to create the Rent Is Too Damn High Party and run for mayor.)
Beveridge shared that poor and needy families (millions of families with a full or even two time worker(s) remained in poverty) failed to receive housing subsidies and other forms of public assistance were eliminated.
The sociologist had the following to say about the inequality of income:
“The recovery seems to be going to those at the top, much more than those in the middle, while those at the bottom may even be losing ground”
While struggling families were losing their public assistance, the top 5 percent was investing their fortune in hedge funds and investment banks to get even wealthier
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey showed that Caucasians had the highest median income at $75,145, while the lowest income was Hispanics at $36,196, slightly lower than African Americans.
The Census data did have a shred of positive news, in New York City, household income grew in four boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, but not in Staten Island.
The report failed to explain why those living in Staten Island are “struggling to get by” even more than the rest of the city.
But a newly release study from The National Employment Law Project might have some answers.
More than one million jobs in middle-wage industries such as loan servicing and real estate have been eliminated, and therefore contributing to Manhattan’s income gap in the past year.
It was also revealed that 46% of New Yorkers are living close to the poverty line.
Those numbers are unchanged from the two previous years.
What should Governor Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio do to help the poor and declining middle class?
