Michigan ranks 11th-worst  in the nation in income inequality as the top 1% of Michigan’s earners make 22 times more than the bottom 99%.

That’s according to a new report – a fact sheet — released today by the Michigan League for Public Policy, a nonprofit group that advocates for the poor. The state ranks second-worst among the Midwest states.

Unlike many national studies about the growing income gap across the nation, the MLPP report finds that financial inequality in Michigan began back in the late 1970s.

Starting in 1979, the data shows that income collectively earned by the top 1 percent in Michigan had nearly doubled by 2013 while the rest of Michigan residents saw their incomes decline.

Here’s how MLPP summarizes the report:

After relatively similar growth for all income levels for 30 years, the fact sheet shows that from 1979 to 2000, incomes for the top 1% of workers increased 100%—while the rest of workers experienced an income decline of 0.2%. That created a huge income gap in Michigan that continues today.

… Michigan women and people of color are particularly hurt by the gap, with Michigan ranking among the worst nationally in gender pay disparities. According to the most recent data, annual median earnings for full-time working women in Michigan are $12,738 less than men, with women making 74.6 cents on the dollar earned by men in 2014.

While poverty in Michigan is typically associated with urban areas such as Detroit, Flint, Saginaw and Jackson, Bridge Magazine reported last year that income inequality in northern Michigan has become rampant.

In northwest Michigan, in the counties of Charlevoix and Emmet, those at the top of the income ladder rank among the wealthiest in Michigan. But the poverty rate has risen – not fallen – since the 2008-10 recession. Many single-parent families rely on local food pantries (above).

Median income for the top 5 percent of households in tourist-rich Charlevoix and Emmet counties is well above the average in the rest of the state, according to the Census Bureau. The poorest, those in the bottom 20 percent, generally are faring better than their peers elsewhere in the state. But the gap between the top and the bottom, in Charlevoix, Emmet and Cheboygan County, is among the widest in Michigan.

The MLPP has advocated several policy changes to lift up those at the bottom of the income scale: raise the minimum wage or eliminate the tipped wage for restaurant workers; expand government subsidies for child care; enact paid leave policies; boost the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which provides tax rebates to the working poor; and improve K-12 education funding for poor school districts.

 

Photo: Bridge Magazine, John Russell, February 2015

Lindy VanSickle, 23, and her 4-year-old son, DeWayne, rely on food they get from an Emmet County food pantry.