Even as Orange County’s economy recovered in the years since the recession, the income gap between the rich and poor has widened significantly, according to a new analysis of U.S. census data.

The 90th percentile of Orange County families earned 11 times more than the 10th percentile in 2014: $203,000 a year, compared with $18,000.

That gap grew 16.7 percent since 2007, the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank, reported Tuesday.

“As the economy has recovered and income polarization has continued, inequality has become a major focus of public discussion,” the report noted. “The rungs of the ‘economic ladder’ are spreading further apart.”

Statewide, the top tier of wage earners took home 13 times more than the lowest tier, a 22 percent increase.

The report comes just weeks before California’s presidential primary, in which issues of inequality and economic turmoil have taken center stage. Taxes on the wealthy, a shrinking middle class, the push for a $15 minimum wage, the impact of a proposed Pacific Rim trade pact, and the growth of illegal immigration are flashpoints in both Democratic and Republican campaigns.

In California, as in the nation, the post-recession disparity reflects long-term trends. The report cited globalization and technological change which have led to the offshoring and automation of many blue-collar tasks and to the need for a better-educated, computer-savvy workforce.

These “broad forces,” the report said, “have polarized economic opportunities by accelerating wages at the top, dragging down wages at the bottom, and eliminating many middle-income jobs.”

The gap between high-income and low-income families in California is twice the size it was in 1980.

Most striking, according to the report, is not just the growth of inequality but the fact it has occurred over an era of rising economic productivity. Even as the disparity grew, the state’s per capita gross domestic product expanded by more than 30 percent.

“This seems contrary to the idea that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” the report noted.

Orange County has recovered the number of jobs it lost during the recession, as has California. Unemployment has dropped to 4 percent in the county, and 5.4 percent in the state.

However, job growth is “highly polarized,” the report said. “At the low end, accommodation and food service jobs have grown 23 percent since the low point of the downturn, but these jobs offer only around $16 per hour, on average.”

Since the low point of the recession, Californians’ incomes have risen, but they remain below where they were. “Middle and top incomes have recovered about a third of the ground lost during the recession, while bottom incomes have gained back only about 10 percent of recession losses,” the report found.

The 26-page analysis, authored by economist Sarah Bohn and political scientist Caroline Danielson, also measured the effects of California’s safety net programs such as food stamps, tax credits and housing subsidies.

When those programs are accounted for, earnings of the top 90 percent were eight times those of the lowest 10 percent, rather than 13 times more.

Even with some public assistance, however, two-thirds of the income of the poor came from job earnings, on average. One in five Californians lives in poverty, according to the California Poverty Measure, compiled by the PPIC and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, which accounts for cost of living.

“The social safety net lowers income inequality, but it does not do so evenly,” the report found, noting that in poorer regions such as the Central Valley, it reduced the income gap more than 50 percent.

But in Orange County, where incomes are on average higher, fewer people were eligible for federal programs despite a high cost of living. Thus the safety net reduced the disparity by only 26 percent.

“The American ideal is a meritocracy,” Bohn said in an interview. “By working, you could move up. The fear is that’s disappearing.”

She noted that a separate PPIC survey shows more than 90 percent of Californians believe poverty is a problem. More than two-thirds say government should do more to reduce the gap between rich and poor.

The report shows that “working people are falling farther and farther behind,” said Jennifer Muir, general manager of the Orange County Employees Association, which represents 18,000 government workers. “That’s why so many Americans are willing to vote for political candidates who they view as outsiders.”

Income disparity is reflected not just in the gap between the top and bottom tiers, but also in the drop in middle-class earnings.

The poorest California families – the 10th percentile earning $15,000 a year – made 22.1 percent less in 2014 than in 2007. The 20th percentile – those earning $27,000 a year – made 15.5 percent less. And the 50th percentile income earners – making $69,000 a year – earned 9.4 percent less.

By contrast, the 80th percentile – making $145,000 – and the 90th percentile –making $198,000 – lost less than 5 percent of their income between 2007 and 2014.