Economic Indicators
Compiled by theProgressive Review
EARLIER ECONOMIC STATS
HISTORIAL ECONOMIC STATS
OTHER STATS2001 Amount by which the combined profits of the world's top ten oil companies in 2000 exceeded those in 1999: $29,000,000,000 [Harper's]
STEPHANIE ARMOUR, USA TODAY: Mounting studies and new research suggest that telecommuting isn't living up to expectations. Reports show employees who telecommute believe the arrangements actually hurt family life and career advancement. A number of supervisors are so fed up with telecommuting-related problems that they're revoking the arrangements. Companies, such as AT&T, are seeing the number of telecommuting workers stagnate or even decline . . . Telecommuting hasn't grown at the clip many experts first predicted in the 1970s, according to the latest government statistics. There were 21 million workers in 1997 who did some work at home as part of their primary jobs, a number that grew by just 1.5 million since 1991, according to the Department of Labor. MORE
- If women earned the same amount as men, each family with a working woman would have an increase of over $4,000 in their annual household income. Over a lifetime women would have over $500,000 more in income if women had equal pay.
- Women and children make up 76% of poor people in the US.
- If the minimum wage were increased by one dollar, 1 out of 8 women workers would get a raise.
[Institute for Women's Policy Research]
2000 - Number of Americans in prison: 2.0 million
- Number of Americans who run farms: 1.9 million
[Justice Policy Institute]-- 85,064 corporate mergers valued at $3.5 trillion during 12 years of Reagan and Bush
-- 166,310 corporate mergers valued at $9.8 trillion during 7 years of Clinton and Gore.
[Securities Data Company]-- Percent of Americans who think business has too much control over many aspects of our lives: 72%
-- Percent of Americans who think companies considered profits more important than developing safe, reliable products for consumers: 66%
THE CENSUS: The nation's poverty rate dropped from 12.7 percent in 1998 to 11.8 percent in 1999 - the lowest rate since 1979 - and real median household income reached $40,816, the highest level ever, according to two reports by the Census Bureau.Poverty
According to the poverty report, 2.2 million fewer people were poor in 1999 than in 1998. In addition, the percentage of people 65 and over who were living in poverty reached a low of 9.7 percent in 1999 and the proportion of the nation's children in poverty was the lowest since 1979 - 16.9 percent.
Except for whites, the 1999 poverty rates for the nation's major racial and ethnic groups set or equaled historic lows. The rate for African Americans, 23.6 percent, was the lowest ever measured by the Census Bureau, and about 700,000 fewer African Americans were poor in 1999 (8.4 million) than in 1998 (9.1 million).
The poverty rate for non-hispanic whites, 7.7 percent, equaled its low reached in 1988-1989 and did not differ from the rates recorded during the 1973-1974 and 1976-1979 periods.
In 1999, the poverty rate among hispanics was 22.8 percent which equaled its low last reached in 1979.
A three-year average poverty rate for American Indian and Alaska Natives was 25.9 percent, with an estimated 700,000 living in poverty.
Income
The 1999 median income level for the nation's households rose, in real terms, by 2.7 percent, from $39,744 in 1998 to $40,816. The 1999 median income was the highest ever recorded for non-hispanic white ($44,366), African American ($27,910) and hispanic ($30,735) households. Although the real median income of Asian and Pacific Islander households increased between 1998 and 1999 to $51,205, the highest median income of any group, that amount was not statistically different from their previously recorded high.
The three-year average (1997-1999) median household income for American Indian and Alaska Natives was $30,784.
ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: [The] report ~ revealed that the income of the median household was ~ 2.7% above its 1998 level in real terms. Other than in 1998, when the same measure grew 3.5%, this rate of growth equals or surpasses the rates of the past 13 years. Yet only since the mid-1990s did household incomes begin to respond to the growing economy. In fact, on an annualized basis, the growth of real median household income was identical in the 1980s and 1990s, at 0.5% per year. However, thanks to the persistent low unemployment rates that have prevailed since the mid-1990s, the annual growth of household income since 1996 has been 2.7%.
Income inequality remains at about the same historically high level that prevailed in the early 1990s, when the current recovery got underway. The typical experience in a recovery is for inequality to decline because unemployment falls more for less-skilled and lower-wage workers. Yet this pattern failed to occur in both this recovery and that of the 1980s.
Middle-income households are working more hours than ever to stay ahead. Part of this increase in work hours likely stems from the fact that real earnings grew more slowly in 1999 than in the previous few years.
- Average number of weeks worked by families in 1998: 83
- Average number of weeks worked by families in 1969: 68
- Change in average family wage for poor black families from 1979 to 1998: -$1.49
- Increase in number of hours worked per year by poor black families, 1979-98:
190
- Change in average family wage for poor white families from 1979 to 1998: -$0.24
- Increase in number of hours worked per year by poor white families, 1979-98: 22
- Income inequality continued to grow in the late 1990s, though at a slower rate than earlier in the decade. From 1995-98, real incomes of low-income families grew 1.9% each year, trailing the growth rate for families in the middle (2.3%) and the top (3.2%).
- In 1998, 62.9% of private sector workers had employer-provided health insurance, a slightly lower rate of coverage than in 1989 (63.1%), and less than half (49.2%) of private sector workers had employer-provided pension plans.
- While a middle-class, married-couple family's income grew 9.2% from 1989 to 1998, a substantial part of this growth reflected an increase in family work hours, up 246 hours to 3,885 total, or about six extra full-time weeks a year since 1989. African American middle-income families logged even more hours, working an average of 4,278 hours per year - almost 500 hours per year more than white families.
- The top 1% of stock owners hold almost half (47.7%) of all stocks, while the bottom 80% own just 4.1% of total stock holdings. Stock market gains were similarly concentrated among top stock owners, with nearly 35% of the gains going to the wealthiest 1% of households from 1989-98.
- The real wage of the median CEO rose 62.7% during 1989-99, helping the typical CEO to earn 107 times more than the typical worker. This ratio of CEO to worker pay was almost double the ratio of 56 in 1989.
- In 1998, more than one in four African-Americans (26.1%) and Hispanics (25.6%) lived in poverty, much higher than the rate for whites (10.5%). However, overall poverty rates fell more for blacks (3.2 percentage points) and Hispanics (4.7 percentage points) in the 1990s than for whites (0.7 percentage points).
- Entry-level wages grew substantially between 1995 and 1999. Real wages of young high school graduates increased 6.3% for men and 6.2% for women. Among young college graduates, real wages rose 14.9% for men and 9.4% for women.ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE
-- Number of additional hours Americans work each week compared to 1969: 14 [Department of Labor, Money]
-- Percent of employees who say their company does not genuinely care about them: 56%
-- Percent of employees who say they do not have a strong loyalty to their company: 55% [Hudson Institute]-- Ratio of CEO pay to non-management worker pay at largest US corporations, 1980: 42:1
-- Ratio of CEO pay to non-management worker pay at largest US corporations, 2000: 691:1
-- Share of wealth owned by top 1 percent of households, 1980: 25%
-- Share of wealth owned by top 1 percent of households, 1997: 40%
[US News & World Report]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wealth in the U.S.: Individuals and Families
September 1999 compiled by George Draffan Public Information Network PO Box 95316, Seattle WA 98145-2316 Footnoted version with references available by e-mail requestMedian U.S. family income grew by 37 percent from 1949 to 1959, by 41 percent in the 1960s, but only by 6.8 percent in the 1970s and 1980s, with 97 percent going to the top 20 percent of the families. in the late 1970s, the top one percent held 13 percent of the wealth; in 1995 it held 38 percent.
Between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, the average income of lowest-income families with children fell by more than 20 percent. The avergae income of high-income families rose by nearly 30 percent; the incomes of the middle-fifth families fell by more than 2 percent.
Ten percent of the U.S. population owns 81.8 percent of the real estate, 81.2 percent of the stock, and 88 percent of the bonds.Ten percent of American households own 72 percent of the total wealth.
One percent of the U.S. population owns sixty percent of the stock and forty percent of the total wealth. Two percent of U.S. wealth holders own 54 percent of all net financial assets; more than half of families had no financial assets, or owe more than they own.
19 percent of all U.S. families own stock; 3 percent of all families own bonds.
Pension funds own almost a third of the total stock.
In 1992 the average salary of the CEOs of the largest 1,000 corporations was $3.8 million.
In 1960 CEOs received 40 times the average worker's salary. In 1992 they received 157 times.
The top one percent of Americans receive more income than the bottom 40 percent.
Wealth in the World
In 1988, per capita GNP in the 20 richest industrial countries was $12,960; in the poorest 33 countries it was $270.
In 1995, 358 billionaires were worth $760 billion, the same as the poorest 20 percent of the world's people.The world's three richest individuals have more wealth than the combined GDP of the 48 poorest countries.
When he was worth $40 billion, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was worth more than the bottom 110 million Americans (40 percent of the population). By 1998, Gates was worth $59 billion; a year later, he was worth $85 billion. Gates is twice as wealthy as the second richest American, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (worth $40 billion). Number three in 1999 was Warren Buffett (chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and worth $31 billion). Number four is Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's president (worth $23 billion). Number 5 is Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell (worth a mere $20 billion in 1999).
Worldwide, the top incomes were 30 times greater than the bottom incomes; by 1989 it was 60 times, unless you calculate individuals rather than nations, in which case it was 150 times.
UNDP data on income distribution: Top 20 percent receives 83 percent of all income. Second 20 percent receives 12 percent Third 20 percent receives 2 percent Fourth 20 percent receives 2 percent Bottom 20 percent receives 1 percent
Corporations
The Global 500 has 25 percent of gross world output, and the Fortune 500 has 42 percent of U.S. gross national product. The world economy grows by two to three percent per year; transnational corporations grow by 8 to 10 percent. The ten largest corporations revenues are $801 billion, more than the hundred smallest countries.
Ninety-eight percent of all companies in the United States account for only about 25 percent of the business on this country; the remaining 2 percent account for nearly 75 percent. The top 500 industrial corporations, which represent only one-tenth of one percent of this elite 2 percent, control over two-thirds of the business resources, employ two-thirds of the industrial workers, account for 60 percent of the sales, and collect over 70 percent of the profits.
The importance of transnational corporations in the world economy is demonstrated by the fact that about one half of the $700 billion in direct foreign investment by 20,000 companies in 1986 came from some 50 corporations. Sales by foreign affiliates of transnationals accounted for more than 40 per cent of total sales in the 1980s (up from 30 per cent in the early 1970s), and about one third of world trade was intra-firm trade.
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-- Number of doctoral degrees granted in 1998 in English and foreign languages: 1,717
-- Number of tenure-track teaching jobs open in those fields: 721. [Modern Language Association]Amount of every earned dollar paid in taxes by citizens 1990: 13 cents
Amount of every earned dollar paid in taxes by citizens 1997: 15 cents
Amount of every earned dollar paid in taxes by corporations 1990: 26 cents
Amount of every earned dollar paid in taxes by corporations 1997: 20 cents
[New York Times]Trades and professions with increased income 1983-1998
-- 83% Auto mechanics
-- 43% Physicians
-- 34% Dental assistants
-- 20-27% Plasterers, Dietitians, Lawyers
-- 10-19% High school teachers, Reporters and editors, Registered nurses, Computer programmers, Waiters and waitresses
-- 1-9% Social workers, Financial managers, Real-estate agents, Electrical engineers, Secretaries, Executives/managers, Police and detectivesTrades and professions with declining income 1983-1998
-- Down 1-9% Retail sales, Mail carriers, Cashiers, Economists, Management analysts, Computer repairers
-- Down 10-19% Office clerks, Bank tellers, Auto body repairers, Janitors
-- Down 24% Kitchen workers
-- Down 31% Garbage collectors, Farmers
-- Down 46% Welders
-- Down 48% Lathe and machine operators[Labor Department, USN&WR]
HISTORICAL STATS DEPRESSION STATS
As Frederick Thayer of George Washington University has pointed out, there have been six periods in American history of substantial debt reduction, in each case followed by a depression:
"From 1817 to 1821, the national debt was reduced by 29 percent to $90 million, and our first major depression began in 1819;
"From 1823 to 1836, the national debt was reduced by 99.7 percent to $38,000, and a major depression began in 1837;
"From 1852 to 1857, the national debt was reduced by 59 percent to $28.7 million and was followed by a major depression in 1857;
"From 1867 to 1873, the national debt was lowered by 27 percent to $2.2 billion, and a major depression began in 1873;
"From 1880 to 1893, the national debt was reduced by 57 percent to $I billion and was followed by a major depression in 1893;
"From 1920 to 1930, the national debt was reduced by 36 percent to $16.2 billion; our sixth major crisis - the Great Depression - began in 1929."