Page 122 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

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Economic inequality is inextricably linked with income, health, and education . And income, health, and education inequality results in opportunity inequality, which then results in less upward mobility, which then reinforces economic inequality .
Creating upward mobility for a family in our city doesn’t just seem impossible . Given the shifting economy of rising costs and inadequate income, it is virtually impossible . The average cost of living in New York City has risen by 48 percent since 2000, while the median earnings of working adults have increased by only 17 percent .10 What this means is that no matter how hard you work, no matter how intelligently you plan, it’s not even possible to stay in place .
If a child in a lower-income community does not have access to quality public schools, his chances of moving up—of improving his education—are iffy at best . If a child growing up in a low-income household lacks access to quality health care, her chances of thriving—of becoming prosperous— are iffy at best . Growing inequality decreases the likelihood of individuals, children, and families moving up the income ladder and building wealth .
Economic inequality is bigger than income inequality . It’s more than an individual or family problem . It results from and is experienced by society . The time has come for us to reframe our thinking .
Take an example: To be self-sufficient as a household in Queens with basic needs met, with no inclusion of recreation or savings of any kind, a family of two adults with a preschooler and a school-aged child must earn $76,376 . In South Manhattan, the most expensive of the boroughs, the cost would be $98,836 . In the Bronx, the lowest: $70,319 .11
How then is self-sufficiency to be achieved in New York City today?
These are the hard facts faced every day for a whopping 42 percent of New York households .12 Nearly half of our fellow residents find themselves in an ever-tightening bind, one that will not allow them a fair chance at the American promise of upward mobility and shared prosperity . Now more than ever, if you are born poor, you are likely to stay poor .
We can and we must do better .
Remember, we are talking about working families who need to have the minimum means to survive in the city independently . For households in New York City with incomes that fall below the self-sufficiency standard, 83 percent have at least one family member who works .13 This means that, for a shockingly unacceptable number of New Yorkers, having a job does not guarantee the ability to support their own families .
Why is this happening in a city with so many resources? The fact is that good jobs have been disappearing while living costs have increased . Public policies have focused primarily on assisting people to get low-wage jobs, rather than on creating education and vocational training opportunities, and good jobs that enable upward mobility . We are applying Band-Aids when a tourniquet is needed to stop the inter-generational bleeding .
10 diana m. pearce, overlooked and undercounTed: The sTruggle To make ends meeT in new york ciTy 43 (2014) available at https://b.3cdn.net/unwaynyc/d2ef3c2becabe1a6ea_7dm6igxy0.pdf.
11 Id.
12 Id. at 37 (noting that New York City’s “rate of income adequacy is 42 percent, higher by far than any state in this
comparison, before or after the recession.”).
13 Id. at 36.
Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality