United States: Reverse the Growing Economic Divide

The United States has made little progress in stemming the rise in poverty and inequality during the Covid-19 pandemic, Human Rights Watch said today. The US government should take urgent action to address the rights of millions of people suffering the compounded economic and social impacts of the pandemic. In addition to the more than 28 million people infected and over 500,000 who have died from Covid-19, the pandemic has shown that there are two economies in the US. Despite the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression: the collective wealth of the US’ 651 billionaires has jumped by over $1 trillion since the beginning of the pandemic, a leap of 36 percent. At the same time, 74.7 million people lost work since the start of the pandemic, with the majority of jobs lost in industries that pay low average wages. Many of those who lost work and income are running out of money and savings. In January, some 24 million adults reported experiencing hunger and more than six million said they fear being evicted or foreclosed on in the next two months due to their inability to make housing payments. President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion relief proposal expected to be voted on by the US House on February 26, provides key investments to mitigate the growing economic hardship affecting broad parts of the population. But the government should ensure that relief reaches everyone in need, and lay the foundation for a human-rights based economic recovery that drastically narrows economic inequality and racial and gender disparities.