Financial Inequality in NZ
You are a lucky person. You are blessed. The fact that you are reading this blog means you know how to read, you have some education and that sets you apart from a chunk of our society straight away.
If there were only 100 people living in NZ and the total of NZ’s wealth was $1000 you would expect each person to have $10, right?
Statistics
However actual statistics show:
1. The 10 richest people would own $520, an average of $52 each.
2. The 50 poorest would have only $50, an average of $1 each.
That means that half the population have 50x less than the top 10% of the population (on average).
3. Looking at the richest person, that person would have $160 dollars all to himself.
The top 1% of the NZ population has 3 times more than the entirety of 50% of the population put together.
4. Looking at the “middle class”, the 40 in between the 10 richest and the 50 poorest. These 40 have $430 between them, an average of $10.75 each.
Even the middle class have 10 times more than 50% of the population has on average. (figures taken from a recent paper presented to parliament with details and link below blog post)
My Reality
NZ is pretty darn unequal. Us middle class type people probably don’t notice it too much. We have about the expected distribution of wealth if all things were equal (we get the expected $10).
It's crazy to look at my situation (middle class) and think that on average I have 10 times more than half of the population. That’s outrageous. I'm talking about 50% of New Zealanders here.
I struggle meeting bills sometimes. What must they be going through!?
We don’t even notice
It has always been a bit of a dream of mine to succeed financially. To move upward through hard work, good education and career growth in any way I can.
That is the panacea that keeps us peaceful in our society, accepting of the way things are. We hope that we can improve our lot, move upwards.
When we succeed we can say “Oh anyone can do it, they just have to work hard”. Then in our own minds it isn’t unfair. We can believe that most poor people are just lazy.
However, although it might be possible for me, who did originate in the bottom 50% to move to the middle 40% that isn’t the case for everyone. My childhood along with half of kiwis, was in the lower side of the financial scale. But I had a number of advantages despite that.
What if?
But let’s play make believe for a minute. Imagine that instead I had disadvantages:
I had to share a bedroom with 3 others who talked all night so I was always exhausted.
We were homeless for some time, staying with friends and moving around constantly and I didn’t go to school.
When I did go to school, I was hungry and couldn’t concentrate.
I had undiagnosed dyslexia and I never learnt to read or write.
My family had no expectation for me to ever succeed because it looked impossible.
You would be horrified at how common that story is. That story is a reality for so many kiwis.
Do you think I would be likely to have financial success with that set up?
Do you think I would feel hopeless and be looking for minimum wage work but struggling to find it as I was illiterate?
Possibly in my frustration and anger with no hope for financial success I would turn to crime, drugs or an alcohol addiction to escape.
You have to admit it’s a possibility.
What if it was you?
How would you feel if this was you? Knowing your kids were growing up and they had no real hope for success? That they didn't stand a chance?
I think it’s time all us middle class type folk start admitting there is a problem with inequality in our country and maybe we should do something about it.
When we look away we are saying that we are ok with it and that we accept it.
As we ignore the problem, it grows.
KG
Extract from:
RECENT WEALTH AND INCOME TRENDS IN NEW ZEALAND
By Alan Johnson, Social Policy Analyst, The Salvation Army Social Policy & Parliamentary Unit
A PAPER PRESENTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO – WELLINGTON SCHOOL OF MEDICINE SUMMER SCHOOL, WELLINGTON, 11 FEBRUARY 2015
“Essentially, wealth distribution in 2003/04 was very skewed.
The wealthiest 10% of New Zealanders owned 52% of the wealth, while the poorest 50% owned just 5%.
The skew is even worse if we consider the position of the wealthiest 1% who owned over 16% of the total wealth – or more than three times more than the poorest 50%.
The middle class – that 40% of the population who fell in between the richest 10% and the poorest 40% – owned 43% of the wealth”
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