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4 unhealthy aspects of the current US economy, according to Janet Yellen
In a Senate Finance testimony, Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen said four major things predate the pandemic but have grown worse, and they’re not healthy.
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown into relief some of the hidden realities of the American economy, from low wages to income inequality.
But in testimony in front of the Senate Finance committee, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen highlighted four structural problems that plagued the economy even prior to the pandemic — although they may have intensified or grown more visible throughout the past year.
She cited wage inequality as a prime example. “In healthy economies,” she said, we see wage growth across the distribution — for workers making the highest incomes and those making the lowest. But over the past several decades, that has not been the case in our economy.”
Here are the four “destructive forces” that Yellen highlighted in her prepared testimony.
1. Wage inequality
Wages have been trending down for years prior to the pandemic. As Insider’s Andy Kiersz and Ben Winck reported, wages have been declining for the past five decades. While recent economic data shows wages growing at the…
