Sociology 441: Stratification

Possible causes of growing inequality

(from Danziger and Gottschalk, America Unequal, chapter 7)

1. Legal minimum wage has stagnated.
2. Union membership has declined.
3. Changes in income tax laws favor the rich.
4. Big baby boom cohorts lowered new workers' earnings.
5. Growth in immigration reduced wages at bottom.
6. Welfare has discouraged low skilled from working.
7. Declining public education reduced earnings at bottom.
8. Normal cyclical recessions increase inequality.
9. Deindustrialization cut middle income blue-collar jobs.
10. Globalization forced U.S. workers to compete with foreign workers.
11. New high technology rewards highly educated more.