alabama's working families and the broken promise of economic ...

For most of this decade, Alabama’s unemploymentrate has been consistently below the national poorer” rings especially true in Alabama. The stateThe saying “The rich get richer while the poor getaverage. 9 With job opportunities increasing, and ranks 7th worst in the nation in terms of incomean unemployment rate that approached full- inequality, with the income limit for those in theemployment levels, one would expect Alabamians bottom quintile at $24,388 and the threshold forto enjoy an increase in earnings, but that has not the top quintile at $89,513. This income gap givesbeen the case for the average worker. The median Alabama the highest range of income inequalityhousehold income for Alabama declined by 5 percentbetween 2000-01 and 2004-05, falling from indicates that incomes have increased much moreamong its neighboring states. The table to the right$39,797 to $37,502 in inflation-adjusted dollars. 10 rapidly among higher income groups than amongPERCENTAGE OF WORKING FAMILIES THAT ARE LOW-INCOME50%40%30%20%10%0National Alabama Florida Georgia Mississippi TennesseeThe saying “The rich get richer while thepoor get poorer” rings especially true in Alabama.The state ranks 7th worst in the nationin terms of income inequality.14 Bridging the Gap