The gulf between America’s highest-paid and lowest-paid workers has widened for 40 years—that is, until the pandemic struck. In a surprising twist, the gap narrowed dramatically during the pandemic and its immediate aftermath, reversing about one-quarter of the wage inequality that had built up over the previous four decades. Now, even in today’s inflationary, slow-growth, post-pandemic economy, the latter trend may well continue.
The unexpected discovery arrives in a paper by David Autor of MIT and Arindrajit Dube and Annie McGrew of the University of Massachusetts. Among the most noteworthy findings:
