What trend has been observed in U.S. income inequality since 1970?

• A. Income inequality has remained constant since 1970
• B. There is no data on this period
• C. Income inequality has increased since 1970
• D. Income inequality has decreased since 1970

Answer: (C)

The trend being tested is how income inequality in the United States has evolved since 1970. The best answer is that income inequality has increased. Data consistently show that the gap between the richest and everyone else has widened over the past several decades. The share of income going to the top earners has risen, while wages for middle- and lower-income groups have grown more slowly or stagnated. Measures like the Gini coefficient have trended upward, reflecting greater overall dispersion in income. This pattern is linked to factors such as changes in wages for different parts of the income distribution, declines in union influence, globalization and technology boosting high-skill, high-earning jobs, and policy shifts that affected taxation and transfers. So, rather than staying constant, data support a clear rise in inequality since 1970.