DAN NEAL

Perspective

Growing up in a railroader's family in the 1950s and '60s, I had a child's view of my father's increasing income. In 1959, we bought a used International Harvester pickup, a green half-ton with a heavy stick shift and metal dashboard. The next year, Dad bought a Desoto Adventurer, a land yacht with tail fins, power brakes, and a push-button automatic transmission.

The 1960s brought an addition to the house that gave us a big kitchen with a fireplace and dishwasher. Later, Dad bought a '64 Ford 150, a trailer house that was soon upgraded, a Chrysler Newport in 1967 and finally a 22-foot boat with a Mercury outboard that we used to fish Island Park Reservoir.

He worked hard for his money. The beet trains ran 16 hours a day, six days a week, from late September until the U&I Sugar factories in the Snake River Valley ended the annual processing season in mid- to late March. The kids had to tiptoe around the house in the morning. Dad went to work at 9 or 10 a.m. and did not get home until after 1 or 2 a.m. the next day. He needed to sleep while we choked down another breakfast of oatmeal and toast. (This continued until the union negotiated a new contract that limited the day to 12 hours.)

Our economic situation improved throughout those years. There was no question that I was going to go to college. Dad had excellent benefits, too: a good pension upon retirement; health insurance for the whole family; and vacation time that allowed us to spend weeks in the Targhee Forest every summer.

The two decades that followed the Second World War were prosperous years for most Americans. The nation's economy grew with big increases in production that were shared broadly across society.

Times have not been as good since, at least not for most Americans. Over the past two decades especially, we've seen the riches of increased production skewed in favor of the wealthiest members of society across America, including in Wyoming.

An analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reveals that in Wyoming, families with average incomes in the top fifth of the state's population saw their incomes grow by 24.3 percent since the late 1980s. That was more than three times the income gain realized by Wyoming families in the middle fifth, who saw their income go up by just 7.9 percent, according to the report titled "Pulling Apart - A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends."

Things were worse for families on the bottom rung of Wyoming's economic ladder. The poorest 20 percent of families saw their income stagnate. The average income of the top fifth is now 5.9 times larger than the average income of those in the bottom fifth.

Across the nation, the gap between the richest and the poorest grew to extreme proportions.

"Nationally, the richest fifth of families have enjoyed larger average income gains each year ($2,060, after adjusting for inflation) than the poorest fifth of families have experienced during the entire two decades ($1,814)," according to "Pulling Apart," the study released April 9.

This is worrisome news for Wyoming and the rest of the country. Such extreme economic stratification of society undermines the American Dream and harms our political system.

This stratification has coincided with considerable growth in productivity, the study notes. Between the 1940s and the 1970s, productivity improvements were shared broadly. The incomes of families at all levels grew at about the same rate, the study notes. This is not news for me. During my childhood, I watched our neighbors enjoy the new televisions and cars, motorcycles and additions to homes that this prosperity allowed.

But the pattern changed in the 1970s. "Productivity has continued to rise, but the lion's share of the benefits has gone to the richest families," the "Pulling Apart" study says.

I worry that this economic stratification leads to social apathy. People at the lowest end of the income scale are so busy trying to make ends meet that they don't vote or otherwise participate in the political and cultural decisions that shape their lives and the lives of their children. Eventually they may fall into cynicism that leaves them believing that the system never will work for them.

State policy-makers can take a number of concrete steps to address the economic "pulling apart" of the Wyoming community. Here at the Equality State Policy Center, we believe that those steps include:

- Indexing the minimum wage to inflation or the Wyoming consumer price index.

- Raising the minimum wage for tipped employees from the current rate of $2.13 per hour.

- Improving the social safety net. The state should continue to build the capacity of its new quality child care program so that working parents, especially single mothers, can take and retain better jobs. The state must find a way to ensure access to quality, affordable health care.

- Continuing economic diversification efforts, with reporting, to improve job opportunities. Wyoming is on the right track in working toward an economy less dependent on the energy industries. The state should ensure accountability for all economic development efforts by requiring comprehensive reporting from the Wyoming Business Council and other development agencies.

The American Dream relies on the ideal that hard work should lead to a better life. People who help the U.S. economy grow should share the benefits of that growth.

Dan Neal is the executive director of the Equality State Policy Center. Contact him at 307-472-5939 or at dneal@equalitystate.org.