Photo by cactusthesaint

The richest part of the U.S. population is now working more hours in comparison to lower wage earners. Instead of using the money from a hard-earned raise to lessen their burdens, they are feeling even more stressed and working harder.

This response is due in part to the opportunity cost of taking time off. Time away from work is now viewed by higher wage earners as money lost so they are less likely to step away from their professional lives.

Another contributing factor is the increasing divide in income. While the middle class and poor are holding steady, the richest part of the population is swiftly pulling away from everyone else. Surprisingly, a recent poll of workers in New York revealed that those earning a healthy income of $200,000 a year were most likely to admit that “seeing other people with money” makes them feel impoverished! While the rich are getting significantly richer, everyone else is dealing with the sting of not moving at all.

Tags: income, opportunity cost, rich, wages

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 am and is filed under Social Change, Thinking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.