Income Gap

WASHINGTON — The recession seems to be socking Americans in the heart as well as the wallet: Marriages have hit an all-time low while pleas for food stamps have reached a record high and the gap between rich and poor has grown to its widest ever. The long recession technically ended in mid-2009, economists say, but US Census data released yesterday show the painful, lingering effects. The annual survey covers all of last year, when unemployment skyrocketed to 10 percent, and the jobless rate is still a stubbornly high 9.6 percent.

The disparity between Boston's top earners and its poorest workers has widened and will continue to grow unless the region's educational system is improved to increase opportunities for all workers, and excessive costs, especially for health care, are reined in, according to a biennial report released Wednesday by the nonprofit Boston Foundation. "Now is the time to get a grip on the growing divide," said Charlotte B. Kahn, director of the Boston Indicators Project, a collaboration between the foundation, city officials, and institutions to track the economic health of Greater Boston.

The disparity between Boston's top earners and its poorest workers has widened and will continue to grow unless the region's educational system is improved to increase opportunities for all workers, and excessive costs, especially for health care, are reined in, according to a biennial report released Wednesday by the nonprofit Boston Foundation. "Now is the time to get a grip on the growing divide," said Charlotte B. Kahn, director of the Boston Indicators Project, a collaboration between the foundation, city officials, and institutions to track the economic health of Greater Boston.

S herborn, the state's wealthiest community, is a bucolic enclave of sweeping estates and horse farms nestled amid Boston's most prosperous suburbs. Nearly two hours west sits Springfield, a city with a hollowed-out economy, hungry for jobs, and home to some of the state's highest levels of poverty. With their opposite economic destinies, they are rarely confused, but together they embody the forces that are widening the income gap in Massachusetts, a divide that has increasingly separated rich and poor, east and west in the state.

WASHINGTON -- Income differences in the United States are too stark, and the government should provide jobs and training for those having a tough time, according to majorities in a national poll released yesterday . About seven in 10 said discrepancies between income levels are too large, a sentiment voiced by nearly two-thirds of those from households earning at least $80,000 a year, the survey said. Three-fourths of people earning less than $80,000 agreed. Eight in 10 said the gap between the rich and the middle class has expanded over the last 25 years, said the survey by the University of...

Poverty has deepened in Boston's poorest neighborhoods, widening the gap between the city's wealthiest and neediest residents, a report being released today finds. The study points to concentrated need in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury, where 42 percent of children live in poverty, the densest cluster of childhood poverty in the state, according to the study sponsored by the Boston Foundation. In those communities, 85 percent of families are headed by a single parent, mainly mothers, and at least 20 percent of the adults have no high school diploma.

WASHINGTON - The income gap between black and white families has grown, says a new study that tracked the incomes of some 2,300 families for more than 30 years. Incomes have increased among both black and white families in the past three decades - mainly because more women are in the workforce. But the increase was greater among whites, according to the study, being released today. One reason: Incomes among black men have actually declined in the past three decades, when adjusted for inflation.

WASHINGTON - President Obama is banking on a new report detailing the income disparity in the country as further evidence of the need for his $447 billion jobs bill. A report this past week by the Congressional Budget Office found that average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of US households had increased by 275 percent over the past three decades. Middle-income households saw a 40 percent rise. For those at the bottom of the economic scale, the jump was 18 percent.

BEIJING — China’s rich may be hiding up to $1.4 trillion, equal to a third of the country’s GDP, according to a report that attempts to put a number on the country’s corruption-fueled “gray income.’’ The estimates also offer a troubling indication that the income gap between China’s rich and poor is much wider than official figures suggest. The Credit Suisse-sponsored report, issued this week by the economic think tank China Reform Foundation, attempts to calculate total real earnings based on spending patterns of about 4,000 households.

WASHINGTON - Fifty percent of US workers earned less than $26,364 last year, reflecting a growing income gap between the nation's rich and poor, the government reported yesterday. There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down - except for the nation's wealthiest. The number of people making $1 million or more soared by over 18 percent from 2009, the Social Security Administration said, citing payroll data based on W-2 forms submitted by employers to the Internal Revenue Service.

THE PROTESTERS who left Occupy Boston over the past two days can hold their heads high, having accomplished much in two and a half months. Those who chose to remain, seeking a confrontation with police, risked undermining those very accomplishments. Since it was established on Sept. 30, the tent encampment in Dewey Square served as a daily reminder of the human cost of the recent economic downturn. The demonstrators may have lost in court on Wednesday in their effort to prevent the city from evicting them, but in a larger sense, they were successful.

By Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Columnist EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Maybe it should be In Tom We Trust. It is largely thanks to Tom Brady that the Patriots find themselves returned to their rightful place atop the AFC East and chiding their doubters, following a 37-16 win over the New York Jets. The Patriots' order-restoring, hysteria-avoiding win over the Jets boiled down to the comparison between the two quarterbacks, and the fact there is no comparison. While Brady was carving up one of the league's best pass defenses, Jets quarterback (Off the)

Poverty has deepened in Boston's poorest neighborhoods, widening the gap between the city's wealthiest and neediest residents, a report being released today finds. The study points to concentrated need in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury, where 42 percent of children live in poverty, the densest cluster of childhood poverty in the state, according to the study sponsored by the Boston Foundation. In those communities, 85 percent of families are headed by a single parent, mainly mothers, and at least 20 percent of the adults have no high...

WASHINGTON - President Obama is banking on a new report detailing the income disparity in the country as further evidence of the need for his $447 billion jobs bill. A report this past week by the Congressional Budget Office found that average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of US households had increased by 275 percent over the past three decades. Middle-income households saw a 40 percent rise. For those at the bottom of the economic scale, the jump was 18 percent.

WASHINGTON - Fifty percent of US workers earned less than $26,364 last year, reflecting a growing income gap between the nation's rich and poor, the government reported yesterday. There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down - except for the nation's wealthiest. The number of people making $1 million or more soared by over 18 percent from 2009, the Social Security Administration said, citing payroll data based on W-2 forms submitted by employers to the Internal Revenue Service.

Educators have made only modest gains in narrowing the gulf in achievement between low-income students and those who are better off, despite aggressive reform efforts aimed at boosting classroom performance of underprivileged children. The latest statewide MCAS scores show students who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches lag the student population overall by about 20 percentage points across grades and subjects. Scores for low-income students have crept up in the last five years, but the divide between haves and have-nots has stubbornly defied...