2020 has been an awesome year for Corporate America, but not so much for Working America.
The big picture: 45 of America’s 50 biggest publicly traded companies have turned profits since March, while nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since June, the WashPost reports in a pair of striking stories.
- "At least 27 of the 50 largest firms held layoffs this year, collectively cutting more than 100,000 workers," according to a WashPost analysis.
- “[T]he increase in poverty this year ... is the biggest jump in a single year since the government began tracking poverty 60 years ago. It is nearly double the next-largest rise, which occurred in 1979-1980 during the oil crisis,” reports WashPost's Heather Long.
That gap extends to CEOs versus regular consumers, Axios' Dion Rabouin reported earlier this week.
- CEO confidence in Q3 was 48% higher than at the beginning of 2019.
- Consumer confidence was 16% lower than in January 2019.
Between the lines: The expiration of enhanced unemployment benefits played a big part in the poverty spike, economists told The Post.
The bottom line: “These are times when the strong can get stronger,” Nike CEO John Donahoe said in September.
