The share of GDP going to wages has fallen from almost 54 percent in 1970 to 44 percent in 2013, while the share going to corporate profits went from about 4 percent to 11 percent. The chances that an American born in 1990 will earn more than their parents are down to 50 percent for Americans born in 1940 the same figure was 92 percent. Real wages have been flat or even declining. Ninety-four percent of the jobs created between 20 were temp or contractor jobs without benefits people working multiple gigs to make ends meet is increasingly the norm. Today five banks control 50 percent of the commercial banking industry,įinance enjoys about 25 percent of all corporate profits. 1: My JourneyĪmerica is starting 100,000 fewer businesses per year than it was only 12 years ago, and is in the midst of shedding millions of jobs due primarily to technological advances.Īutomation had eliminated millions of manufacturing jobs between 20, four times more than globalization 2: How We Got Here

State governments are generally hamstrung with balanced budget requirements and limited resources. Nonprofits will be at the front lines of fighting the decline, but most of their activities will be like bandages on top of an infected wound. There is really only one entity-the federal government-that can realistically reformat society in ways that will prevent large swaths of the country from becoming jobless zones of derelict buildings and broken people. They are hiring the strongest contributors with the right mix of qualities to help an early-stage company succeed. When entrepreneurs start companies and expand, they generally aren’t hiring a down-on-his-or-her-luck worker in need of a break. In some parts of the United States, 20 percent of working-age adults are now on disability, with increasing numbers citing mood disorders More than half of American households already rely on the government for direct income in some form. The number of working-age Americans who aren’t in the workforce has surged to a record 95 million. labor force participation rate is now at only 62.9 percent, a rate below that of nearly all other industrialized economies and about the same as that of El Salvador and the Ukraine. Between 2.2 and 3.1 million car, bus, and truck driving jobs in the United States will be eliminated by the advent of self-driving vehicles. The Obama White House published a report in December 2016 that predicted 83 percent of jobs where people make less than $20 per hour will be subject to automation or replacement. It loves getting things done in the most cost-effective way possible. The market rewards business leaders for making things more efficient. Right now some of the smartest people in the country are trying to figure out how to replace you with an overseas worker, a cheaper version of you, or, increasingly, a widget, software program, or robot. Seventy percent of Americans consider themselves part of the middle class.

The war on normal people by andrew yang