Despite Wisconsin’s strong economic growth and tight labor markets, income disparity is substantially greater today than it was two decades ago. According to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, the average real income of the lowest-income families in the state fell by 3 percent while the average real income of the highest-income families grew by 30 percent.

Wisconsin’s recent surge in inequality is particularly noteworthy. From the late 1980s to the late 1990s, inequality grew rapidly in the state, in spite of Wisconsin’s strong economic performance. The income of Wisconsin’s poorest families grew 26 percent. Nationally, over the same period, income at the bottom of the income distribution rose slightly while the richest fifth of families gained 15 percent...

Wisconsin has traditionally prided itself on its relatively high level of equality, and it still can. Even with this growth in inequality, only seven states have a more equal distribution of income. However, our position relative to other states will continue to decline as long as inequality in the state continues to grow more rapidly than in the rest of the nation.