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The wage gap has increased, especially for those who arrive in search of the "American dream"; The challenges they face have transformed as social and political changes impact, with gender and race being the main causes that generate inequality.
And, in the United States, income inequality continues to increase; The top 10 percent of the population earns more than $150,000 annually and has more than $1 million in assets, while low-income families earn an average of $31,000 a year and have negligible assets.
Intergenerational mobility is a key driver of wealth, but it has fallen over the past four decades and there are fears that technology could create greater pay gaps.
The American dream is practically to leave the country of origin in search of a better life for one's children or family members; the ideal is to reach a higher point in the distribution of wealth, as explained by Dr. Austin Clemens, senior fellow at the Washington Center. for Equitable Growth, during a briefing held by Ethnic Media Services.
Since 2016, a change in mentality has been noted, where young people seek to have 40 percent more income than their parents, Clemens commented.
Furthermore, he expressed that the first factor that migrants consider is economic growth through better employment opportunities, and they come to the country with the idea that it will be easy, but that does not happen in all cases due to the lack of salary equity. .
Clemens stated that in recent years it has been observed that children of migrants have more opportunities to maintain a better quality of life than their parents, but also much better than Americans of origin themselves.
"Opportunities exist throughout the United States and there are places where intergenerational mobility is high or low, so generally migrants arrive in places where there are good jobs and schools, that is positive for the second generation of migrants," he stated. He also has a degree in economics.
It is important to strengthen the labor market and generate policies that go against discrimination to provide more and better opportunities for everyone.
Dr. Michelle Holder, associate professor of economics at John Jay College of the City University of New York, explained that there are three obvious ways to detect labor inequality, the first is in salary, the second is in the unemployment rate, the Third is to know the statistics that segment the data, for example in 2023 for every dollar that a man earned in his job, a woman earned only 84 cents.
A gap that has existed for years and is still very evident is between workers of color and white workers. It is estimated that for every dollar that white men earn, Afro-descendant women earn 73 cents.
Faced with these problems, solutions must be thought of that can equalize the conditions and provide the opportunity to have the same salary options, so providing accessible education to everyone would give the possibility of preparing to obtain a more competitive salary, Holder stated.
In addition to the above, informal jobs also leave the possibility of having a non-competitive salary, so regulating sources of employment is considered a good option, concluded the economics professor.
Dr. Michael Reich, professor of economics and president of the Center for Wage and Employment Dynamics at the Institute for Labor and Employment Research at the University of California, Berkeley, explained that many people have moved into driving jobs offered by different companies. .
He explained that 1.3 million drivers in California are dedicated to these jobs and approximately 100 million people throughout the country. This phenomenon increased with the pandemic, since home delivery service became necessary and many formal jobs disappeared.
People who see this type of jobs as an additional or extra job are only 10 percent, leaving 90 percent of committed workers who dedicate 8 to 10 hours a day to generate income equal to other jobs.
The people who take these jobs, according to studies, are mostly migrants who do not have the possibility of finding something formal and are forced to accept low salaries, but it also implies that they will not have a minimum wage range, they do not receive unemployment insurance , vacations or some other legal benefit, a situation that worries Professor Reich.
Dr. Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, commented that her greatest concern is the use of new technologies and how they are impacting the labor market.
Over time, machines have taken over and employees are not essential in some cases or the number of employees decreases due to the facilities provided by technology. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) can be an ally but also the replacement of employees. .
Shierholz considers that an important way to continue giving employees their place is to provide them with greater work benefits, increase salaries, increase vacation days, unions, and provide training, among others, with the aim of ensuring that they are protected but also more prepared.
"A social democracy must be built precisely to ensure that the benefits of workers are protected by increasing their standards of living, which is why a political agenda that addresses aspects of artificial intelligence and its effects is important," Shierholz added.
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