Social mobility drives home sales volume

As the income chasm widens between the top 1% of earners in the U.S. and everyone else, social mobility likewise continues to decline, according to the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger.

Krueger points to a number of indicators that income inequality is indeed present in the U.S. and that it is affecting the ability of the populace to thrive economically – to purchase such things as homes at present prices.

From WWII to the 1970s, virtually all income brackets in the U.S. grew at the same pace. In a divergence since the 1970s, income growth for the top fifth of all earners has outpaced growth in the middle class significantly, while income growth in the bottom quintile (20%) actually shrunk over the past 40 years.