Globalization and Increasing Inequality of Poverty in United States over the Past Decade

The present paper examines inequality in poverty in the United States during the past decade and also relates the changes in poverty and inequality of poverty to the process of globalization – by analyzing the changes in unemployment-population ratio, unemployment rate, loss of employment (and subsequent re-employment) and average weeks of unemployment. The findings, in essence, add up to a picture which looks dismal. Poverty has increased – for all racial and ethnic groups, for all family types, both natives as well as foreign born and in all regions. The inequality of poverty in the US is substantial and the gap in poverty between Blacks and Whites has increased during 2002-11. Also, the inequality of poverty based on family-type (which is extremely high) has increased during the same period. Further, the unemployment-population ratio, unemployment rate, loss of employment and average weeks of unemployment have all increased considerably but the extent of re-employment of displaced workers has decreased enormously during the past decade.  Moreover, there are huge gaps between Blacks and Whites in all of the above indicators with the Blacks at the receiving end. Last but not the least; this Black-White divide has increased extensively during the last decade. Overall, then, this paper’s findings are in conformity with a pessimistic view rather than otherwise about the record of the economic development in the US during the third phase of globalization (2000–present).