World’s richest 1% made 82% of wealth last yr

PARIS: The world’s richest one percent raked in 82 percent of the wealth created last year while the poorest half of the population received none, Oxfam said Monday, as the world’s elite prepared to mingle at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

A new report from the charity also found that the wealth of billionaires has grown six times faster than that of ordinary workers since 2010, with another billionaire minted every two days between March 2016 and March 2017.

a picture of a global economy in which the wealthy few amass evergreater fortunes while hundreds of millions of people are “struggling to survive on poverty pay”.

“The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system,” Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said in a statement.

Oxfam also emphasized the plight of women workers, who “consistently earn less than men” and often have the lowest paid,

least secure jobs. Nine out of 10 billionaires are men, it added.

The report, titled “Reward Work, not Wealth”, used data from Credit Suisse to compare the returns of top executives and shareholders to that of ordinary workers.

It found that chief executives of made in just four days what garment workers in Bangladesh earn over a lifetime.

“The people who make our clothes, assemble our phones and grow our food are being exploited to ensure a steady supply of of corporations and billionaire investors,” said Byanyima.

called on governments to limit the returns of shareholders and top executives, close the gender pay gap, crackdown on tax avoidance and increase spending on healthcare and education.

The study was released on the eve of top political and business ski resort for the annual World Economic Forum, which this year says it will focus on how to create “a shared future in a fractured world”.

business leader who doesn’t say they are worried about inequality,” said Byanyima.

is doing something about it. Many are actively making things worse by slashing taxes and scrapping labor rights.”