The Wealth Gap Shrinks: The three years before the pandemic saw big gains for lower earners

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"Between 2016 and 2019 . . . Real median incomes grew 9% for Americans who haven’t completed high school and 6.3% for those with only a high-school diploma while declining 2.3% among those with a college degree."

"Net worth (assets minus debt) increased 32.5% among the lowest income quintile and 30.7% among the second lowest,"

"Net worth also increased among blacks (32.1%) and Hispanics (63.6%) compared to whites (4%)."

"One explanation is that lower-income Americans are saving more. The share of families that saved increased to 59% from 55% from 2016 to 2019. Savings took a variety of forms, but Americans in the lower rungs notably invested in stocks and their own businesses."

"Home ownership declined across the socioeconomic spectrum during the Obama Presidency despite near-zero interest rates, but it ticked up 1.4 percentage points overall from 2016 to 2019, including among Hispanics (1.8 points) and blacks (2.3 points)."