Gap between rich and poor widened over four decades

The gap between what the rich and poor earn has been growing nationwide for four decades. The lowest 10 percent of wage earners nationwide were making no more than $7.70 an hour in 1973. That grew by just 4.5 percent, to $8.05, by 2009, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a D.C.-based think tank that focuses on the economic condition of low-and middle-income Americans.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the economic spectrum, the top 5 percent of earners made at least $35.37 an hour in 1973 compared with $48.08 in 2009 — an increase of 36 percent.