A new billionaire was created around the globe every two days in 2017, taking the total number to more than 2,000, according to a new report from Oxfam.
Released ahead of the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the briefing paper – Reward Work, Not Wealth – also found that the wealth of the now 2,043, largely male, billionaires increased by $US762 billion over the 12 months – a figure Oxfam says could have been used to end extreme poverty globally seven times over.
It shows that 82 per cent of wealth created in the year went to the one per cent most wealthy while the lowest 50 per cent in terms of wealth received no increase at all.
The paper contains a range of recommendations for governments including that they set “concrete, timebound targets and action plans to reduce inequality”, they they use regulation and taxation to end extreme wealth and that they publicly commit to “achieving universal free public services and a universal social protection floor”.
In Australia, meanwhile, data contained in another document – Growing Gulf Between Work and Wealth – shows that the number of billionaires in the country increased by eight to 33 in the past year while their combined wealth increased by $38 billion.
Oxfam says figures in the report show that inequality in Australia is at its highest point of any time in the past two decades and that while the share of wealth held by the richest one per cent continues to rise, wage growth for ordinary workers has slowed to record lows.
Dr Helen Szoke, CEO of Oxfam Australia, said a “broken economic system…is concentrating more wealth in the hands of the rich and powerful, while ordinary people struggle to scrape by, is fuelling an inequality crisis”.
“Over the decade since the Global Financial Crisis, the wealth of Australian billionaires has increased by almost 140 per cent to a total of $US115.4 billion last year. Yet over the same time, the average wages of ordinary Australians have increased by just 36 per cent and average household wealth grew by 12 per cent.”
“The richest one per cent of Australians continue to own more wealth than the bottom 70 per cent of Australians combined. While everyday Australians are struggling more and more to get by, the wealthiest groups have grown richer and richer.”
To address the growing inequality, Dr Szoke called on the Federal Government to end cuts to corporate taxes and introduce tougher tax transparency laws that require companies to publicly report on income, profits and taxes for every country in which they operate. She also said Australian companies should commit to ensuring at least a living wage to workers in their supply chains as well as to publishing a step-by-step strategy outlining how this would be achieved.
“Hard work is no longer a guarantee for a better life – the system is clearly not working for a majority of people. The Federal Government and Australian companies cannot ignore this inequality crisis and must act to curtail the widening gulf between the super-rich and ordinary workers.”
