The “Ask Gap”: Yet Another Statistic Proving Income Inequality

The lifetime, compounding effects of settling for a lower salary.

(Image credit: The Financial)

Inequality has been part of the human population since a group of cavemen hoarded plants for their own consumption, refusing to share with the other tribes.

Unfortunately for our ancestors, most instances of inequality were unable to be identified in real-time. In the present day, we have investigative journalism that can be broadcast instantaneously over the internet, allowing anyone and everyone to see just how unequal the world can be.

Wealth, education, healthcare, food, income.

There are gaps, oftentimes wide swaths, between the haves and the have-nots, and the Ask Gap is just the latest one I’ve come across.

The Compounding Effect of Lower Income

There is ample research into the negative effect that graduating into a recession has on one’s income.

To sum up: a recession means jobs are scarcer, which leads to lower initial salaries, which leads to lower long-term income.

Graduating in a recession leads to large initial earnings losses. These losses, which amount to about 9 percent of annual earnings in the initial stage…