America's wealth gap
'unsustainable,' may worsen: Harvard study
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[September 08, 2014]
BOSTON (Reuters) - The
widening gap between America's wealthiest and its middle
and lower classes is "unsustainable", but is unlikely to
improve any time soon, according to a Harvard Business
School study released on Monday. |
The study, titled "An Economy Doing Half its Job", said American
companies - particularly big ones - were showing some signs of
recovering their competitive edge on the world stage since the
financial crisis, but that workers would likely keep struggling to
demand better pay and benefits.
"We argue that such a divergence is unsustainable," according to the
report, which was based on a survey of 1,947 of Harvard Business
School alumni around the globe, and which highlighted problems with
the U.S. education system, transport infrastructure, and the
effectiveness of the political system.
Some 47 percent of respondents in the survey said that over the next
three years they expected U.S. companies to be both less competitive
internationally and less able to pay higher wages and benefits,
versus 33 percent who thought the opposite.
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The results marked an improvement from a 2012 Harvard Business
School survey of its alumni showing 58 percent of respondents
expecting a decline in U.S. competitiveness, according to the
survey.
But Harvard wrote, respondents of the 2014 survey "were much more
hopeful about the future competitive success of America's firms than
they were about the future pay of America's workers."
Harvard called on corporate leaders to help solve America's wealth
gap by working to buttress the kindergarten-to-12th-grade education
system, skills-training programs, and transportation infrastructure,
among other things.
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"Shortsighted executives may be satisfied with an American economy
whose firms win in global markets without lifting U.S. living
standards. But any leader with a long view understands that business
has a profound stake in the prosperity of the average American,"
according to the report.
"Thriving citizens become more productive employees, more willing
consumers, and stronger supporters of pro-business policies," it
said. "Struggling citizens are disgruntled at work, frugal at the
cash register, and anti-business at the ballot box."
(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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