CBO study: Rich get richer, outpace middle class

The richest 1 percent of Americans have been getting far richer over the past three decades while the middle class and poor have seen their after-tax household income crawl upwards in comparison, according to a government study.

After-tax income for the top 1 percent of U.S. households almost tripled, up 275 percent, from 1979 to 2007, the Congressional Budget Office found. For people in the middle of the economic scale, after-tax income grew by just 40 percent. Those at the bottom had an 18 percent increase.

"The distribution of after-tax income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979," CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said in a blog post. "The share of income accruing to higher-income households increased, whereas the share accruing to other households declined."

The top 1 percent made $165,000 or more in 1979; that jumped to $347,000 in 2007, the study said. The income for the top fifth started at $51,289 in 1979 and rose to $70,578 in 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, those in the 20th percentile went from $12,823 in 1979 to $14,851 in 2007.

The report, based on IRS and Census Bureau data, comes as the Occupy Wall Street movement protests corporate bailouts and the gap between the haves and have-nots. Demonstrators call themselves "the 99 percent."

Hawaii wages fail to keep pace with rest of U.S.

Employment in Hawaii rose 1.2 percent between March 2010 and March 2011, slightly off the national average, but increases in average weekly wages in the Islands failed to keep pace with the rest of the nation, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Statewide, the average weekly wage at the end of the first quarter was $790, 3.1 percent more than the previous year. Nationally, the average weekly wage increased by 5.2 percent to $935 in the first quarter. Employment increased by 1.3 percent, the BLS said.

Among the 322 largest counties in the nation, Honolulu was ranked No. 106 for employment and No. 226 for wages. Employment on Oahu increased 1.5 percent, while the average weekly wage rose just 3.1 percent to $821. Counties in the Midwest posted the largest gains on both fronts — Elkhart County, Ind., posted a 6.2 percent gain in employment, while the average weekly wage in Peoria County, Ill., rose 18.9 percent to $944.