Monday, April 28, 2014

Income gap between rich and poor is greater in China than in the US

From Business Week 4/28/14 :

"The income gap between the rich and poor in China has surpassed that of the U.S. and is among the widest in the world, according to a report." [source]
The rapid growth of China's economy has been staggering, but I had no idea that the last bastion of communism had tolerated income inequality to such a degree.

Recently, the jobless recovery of the manufacturing industry in the US [source] has been observed with mixed happiness (GDP up) and concern (employment stagnant). I wonder if this trend to unequal income in China is fueled by similar factors for an even less developed economy. If this is not a cyclical blip but a symptom of the changing value of labor, then the potential for instability is even greater. A 1 billion person society with a predominance of unemployed men due to parental sex selection [source] could be a volatile player on the world scene.