New figures show increased wealth gap

New statistics released today show the ever-increasing inequality in New Zealand as the elite 1% took in 28% of 2017’s wealth

New figures show increased wealth gap
Of all the wealth created in New Zealand in 2017, 28% went to the top 1%, while 1.4 million who make up the poorest 30% barely got 1%, according to new research released by Oxfam today.

The research also reveals that 90% of New Zealand owns less than half the nation’s wealth.

The research was released to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The full report, called Reward Work, Not Wealth, will reveal how the global economy enables a wealthy elite to continue to accumulate vast wealth while hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive on poverty pay.

It will reveal how globally big business and the extremely wealthy are fuelling the inequality crisis.

Last year, Oxfam’s research revealed two New Zealand men owned more wealth than the poorest 30% of the adult population – Graeme Hart and Richard Chandler are worth US$9.5billion and US$1.9billion respectively.

Hart increased his fortune by US$3.1 billion in 2017 to US$9.5 billion (up from $US6.4 in 2016).

Oxfam NZ executive director Rachael Le Mesurier said: “Trickle-down economics isn’t working. The extreme gap between the very rich and the very poor in our country is shocking. As new wealth is created it continues to be concentrated in the hands of the already extremely wealthy.

“2017 was a global billionaire bonanza. This is not a sign of success but of economic failure. Experts are clear, high levels of inequality are bad for economic growth – for everyone except the small number of super-rich, who on a global scale are often able to translate their disproportionate control of resources into disproportionate influence over political and economic decision making. This can lead to policies that are geared towards their interests, often at the expense of the majority.

“To end the global inequality crisis, we must build an economy for ordinary working people, not the very few rich and powerful,” Le Mesurier added.


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