Curbing Inequality: Achieving Our Goals for Income Equality

The growing inequality of incomes is a sign that wage expansion is not benefiting all who are contributing to Connecticut’s economic growth. Adverse consequences of increasing income inequality are many. For instance, research has shown that income inequality is associated with higher overall death rates, higher rates of dying from heart disease, cancers, homicide and infant mortality, not only for those at the low end of the inequality scale, but for everyone in the community. At the current rate of inequality growth, by 2027 the hourly wage for those at the 90th percentile of wages will exceed $50/hour, while the hourly wage at the 10th percentile will be just over $9.