Wage Gap

Wage Gaps Are Costing The U.S. Economy Trillions Of Dollars

Citigroup has published a new report which estimates that racial inequality cost the U.S. economy $16 trillion since 2000 while the failure to close wage gaps has resulted in $12 trillion in lost GDP. The research arrived at the initial figure by finding that the provision of fair and equitable lending to Black entrepreneurs would result in $13 trillion in revenue. Closing the Black wage gap would add a further $2.7 trillion to the economy while improved access to housing and education would result in a further $218 billion and $113 billion being added, respectively.

While the level of racial disparity highlighted by the report is jarring, the pandemic has made it worse. Race is a big part of the problem but there are other elements. If the white male-white female wage gap was closed two decades ago, it would have generated $5 trillion for the U.S. economy. Likewise, the earnings gap between white men and Blacks and Hispanics is also colossal and it would have led to a $7 trillion gain in GDP if it was eliminated 20 years ago. According to Citigroup, $5 trillion would be added to the U.S. econonomy over the next four years if the above gaps were closed today, leading to an annual growth rate of 0.4 percentage points.

Description

This chart shows the estimated cumulative gain in real GDP if the following wage gaps had been closed 20 years ago.

Download Chart
Premium statistics
Measures of income inequality in the UK 1977-2022
Premium statistics
Income inequality between top 10 and bottom 50 percent share in India 1960-2022
Measure of income inequality in Canada 2000-2021
Latin America: wealth inequality based on income concentration by country 2022
U.S. household income Gini Index 1990-2023
Premium statistics
Canadians' views on whether government should reduce income inequality 2022, by party

Any more questions?

Get in touch with us quickly and easily.
We are happy to help!

Do you still have questions?

Feel free to contact us anytime using our contact form or visit our FAQ page.

Statista Content & Design

Need infographics, animated videos, presentations, data research or social media charts?

More Information