The hole between the haves and have-nots in the USA grew final 12 months to its highest degree in additional than 50 years of monitoring earnings inequality, in line with Census Bureau figures. AP Information stories:

Earnings inequality in the USA expanded from 2017 to 2018, with a number of heartland states among the many leaders of the rise, despite the fact that a number of rich coastal states nonetheless had essentially the most inequality general, in line with figures launched Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The nation’s Gini Index, which measures earnings inequality, has been rising steadily over the previous 5 many years.

The Gini Index grew from 0.482 in 2017 to 0.485 final 12 months, in line with the bureau’s 1-year American Neighborhood Survey knowledge. The Gini Index is on a scale of 0 to 1; a rating of “0″ signifies excellent equality, whereas a rating of “1″ signifies excellent inequality, the place one family has all of the earnings…

The inequality enlargement final 12 months came about on the similar time median family earnings nationwide elevated to nearly $62,000 final 12 months, the very best ever measured by the American Neighborhood Survey. However the 0.8% earnings enhance from 2017 to 2018 was a lot smaller in comparison with will increase within the earlier three years, in line with the bureau.