REPORT: RICH RICHER, POOR POORER

A new look at the income gap in California finds it’s twice as large now as it was in 1980. The Public Policy Institute says the trend has been going on for decades but the rich are able to rebound from recession more quickly than the poor and that accounts the gap’s jump in recent years. Incomes adjusted for inflation are 40% higher now for top wage earners than in 1980 but 19% lower for the bottom earners. The report says Bay Area incomes are roughly twice those of the Central Valley.