Top one percent saw incomes grow by 201 percent in past 30 years, while the remaining 99 percent saw growth of

As president-elect Donald Trump assembles his cabinet of like-minded billionaires, there are fears that the incoming administration could help the rich get richer while the wealth divide deepens.

The income gap has been growing wider for decades and recently hit levels not seen since the 1920s - giving the United States one of the most unequal distributions of the wealth in the developed world.

Between 1979 and 2007, the top one percent saw incomes grow by 201 percent, while the remaining 99 percent saw just a 19 percent growth.

The graph traces the real average income of the bottom 50 percent in the lower panel, and the real average income of top income groups in the upper panel. The grey bars show the ratio between the two

Now with the richest president-elect in history about to take the Oval Office, his critics, who lost out in the 2016 election, fear if Trump and his billionaire cabinet may deepen that divide and be tempted to skew policies to favor the wealthy, not the working class.

Just a few months ago, during the election campaign, Trump had proposed a plan to cut taxes by around $6 trillion over 10 years. These tax changes, which includes lowering top tax rates, would particularly favor big corporations and high income earners.

Democratic leaders have also raised concerns that the Trump administration will be too pro-business and may weaken the regulations imposed against banks and other firms in the wake of the financial crisis - a crisis which disproportionately affected the working class.

The income gap has been growing wider for decades and recently hit levels not seen since the 1920s - giving the United States one of the most unequal distributions of the wealth in the developed world (pictured are the pre and post tax average incomes for the one percent)

Between 1979 and 2007, the top one percent saw incomes grow by 201 percent, while the remaining 99 percent saw just a 19 percent growth (pictured are the top income shares for the top one, and top ten per cent)

'I'm not shocked by this,' said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, an ultra-progressive voice on the Democratic Party.

TOP TEN RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD 1. Bill Gates: $75 billion 2. Amancio Ortega: $67 billion 3. Warren Buffett: $60.8 billion 4. Carlos Slim Helu: $50 billion 5. Jeff Bezos: $45.2 billion 6. Mark Zuckerberg: $44.6 billion 7. Larry Ellison: $43.6 billion 8. Michael Bloomberg: $40 billion 9. Charles Koch: $39.6 billion 10. David Koch: $39.6 billion Advertisement

'It's a billionaire president being surrounded by a billionaire and millionaire cabinet, with a billionaire agenda ... to hurt the middle class. The appointments suggest that he's going to break his campaign promises,' Brown said in a statement on Wednesday.

Trump has denied he is a only a president for the upper class, but that he represents everyone. He also argued during his campaign his status among the mega-rich actually made him more qualified to change the system once elected.

This week, Steven Mnuchin, Trump's treasury department pick, who has worked on both Wall Street and in Hollywood, sought to allay fears of tax cuts for the rich, telling CNBC: 'There will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.'

Other presidents have also tapped America's wealthiest people to serve in government. Early 20th-century billionaire Andrew Mellon served as treasury secretary in three different presidential administrations. President Dwight Eisenhower had so many wealthy Americans in his cabinet, they became known by the nickname 'nine millionaires and a plumber.'

But, as many have pointed out, America is still waiting for Trump to appoint his 'plumber.'

Donald Trump (pictured yesterday at Trump Tower) has selected fellow billionaires - and a handful of millionaires too - for his administration's cabinet, making it the richest in modern history

Former Goldman Sachs executive Steve Mnuchin (left) will be treasury secretary, and investment guru Wilbur Ross will head the Commerce Department; both are billionaires

Without someone who can relate to the struggles of the working and middle classes, many fear that the deepening wealth divide will only get worse.

Research by liberal Thomas Piketty and his colleagues show that the real average income of the bottom 50 percent has remained more of less flat, peaking at $16,632 in 1979 and stagnating thereafter ($16,197 in 2014).

In 1979, the average one-percenter earned 28 times the income of the average bottom 50 percent.

But by 2014, while under Obama's administration, the ration as soared to 81 times more.

The average ten-percenter now earns 19 times the bottom 50 percent, compared to nine in 1979.

The wealthiest 10 percent in the country now own 90.9 percent of all stocks and mutual funds, 94.3 percent of financial securities but only 26.5 percent of the national debt.

Trump has surrounded himself over the years with some of the richest people in the world, such as Amazon's chief Jeff Bezos (far left)

Two one percenters: Donald Trump pictured with Michael Bloomberg, the eighth richest man in the world

Yet the bottom 60 percent of earns own a mere 2.5 percent of the wealth and the bottom 40 per cent own negative 0.4 percent of the wealth. In comparison, in the UK, bottom 60 percent own 16 percent and the bottom 40 per cent own 4.7 percent.

Meanwhile, income equality between the top one percent of earners and the 99 percent is growing even faster.

The Economic Policy Institute found the disparity between the two is growing in almost every state. The biggest gap was in Connecticut and New York, where the top sliver of earners raked at 48 times the income of the rest.

Between 2009 and 2012, the incomes of the top one per cent in 16 states and Washington DC grew so much it offset the shrinking incomes of everyone else.