Billionaire Wealth Soars as 255 Million of World’s Jobs Lost in Pandemic
According to a new report from anti-poverty group Oxfam, the pandemic has significantly worsened income inequality across the world. The report indicates that the world’s richest people regained their losses from the COVID-19 shutdown just nine months later, while the number of people living in poverty has doubled to more than 500 million. Economists estimate that it could take nearly a decade for the poorest individuals to reestablish their financial security following the pandemic. In the U.S., the richest people have benefitted from a booming stock market and unequal recovery that has allowed their wealth to grow by more than $1 trillion while lower-income people have faced lost wages, jobs, and opportunities. In particular, the pandemic has exposed the significant inequalities faced by women and people of color who have faced unemployment at the highest rates during the pandemic.