SM Gibson

May 21, 2105

(ANTIMEDIA) A report recently released from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that the United States and Israel have the worst inequality in the developed world.

Although the divide between rich and poor is at historic levels for the majority of the 34 developed member nations, the US and Israel have distanced themselves from the fold. The OECD discovered that in the US, the richest 10% of the population earn 16.5 times the income of the poorest 10%. In Israel, the richest 10% earn 15 times that of the poorest. In comparison, the average wealth gap in OECD nations is 9.6. The rich earned approximately seven times as much as the poor in the 1980’s.

It was also recorded in 2012 that in 18 OECD countries, the bottom 40% of households owned just 3% of the wealth while the top 10% controlled 50%.

In the US, the wealthiest 5% has nearly 91 times the amount as the average citizen.

Low spending on social programs in the US and Israel compared to other OECD nations has been mentioned as a possible factor for the large discrepancies of wealth among their citizens. Also, the massive skill gap in the workforce has been blamed as well, meaning the division between skilled workers who command much higher salary and low-skilled workers.

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