Income inequality, by many measures, is now greater than it has been since the 1920s.
The causes of income inequality are hotly debated and tend to fall into two broad categories. There are market forces -- like increased trade and technological advances -- which have made highly skilled and well-educated workers more productive, thus increasing their pay. And there are institutional forces, like deregulation, the decline of unions and stagnation in the minimum wage.
In 1947, the median family -- the one making more than half of all other families and less than half of all other families -- made $23,400, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Over the next three decades, median-income more than doubled, to $47,400 in 1977. In 2005, the median family made $58,400. (All these numbers are adjusted for inflation.)
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