????最近在美國，上至決策層，下至快餐店員工都在要求華盛頓上調最低工資。這個傷腦筋的話題催生了無數支持和反對的爭論。但一項最新研究顯示，目前只有最富有的美國人從這場經濟大衰退中恢復了過來，這個發現應能讓反對者重新考慮上調最低工資的問題。

????收入不均是美國幾十年的頑疾，但在最近這場經濟衰退后，貧富差距進一步拉大。房價和股價上漲可能令最富有的美國人獲益，而最貧困的人被落在了后邊：加州大學伯克利分校（University of California Berkeley）經濟學家伊曼紐爾?塞斯和托馬斯?皮凱蒂進行的一項最新研究顯示，2009年至2012年，收入最高的1%人群收入增長了31.4%，余下99%人群的收入僅增長了微不足道的0.4%。

????這兩位經濟學家指出，這意味著收入最高的1%人群拿走了所有美國人收入總額的1/5以上，達到1913年現代聯邦所得稅開征以來的最高水平之一。不僅如此，收入最高1%人群的收入已接近全面恢復，而剩下99%人群的收入基本上剛剛開始恢復。

????上調最低工資不能彌合這一差距，但肯定會在一定程度上緩解這個問題。遺憾的是，上調最低工資的提案目前沒有取得任何進展，阻力不小。上個月，美國快餐業工人在全美60個城市罷工一天，要求將最低工資提高到每小時15美元。這將是當前最低工資每小時7.25美元的兩倍還多，也高于奧巴馬總統今年2月在國情咨文中提議的每小時9美元。

????這不只是工人希望上調工資（我們所有人都想上調，不是嗎？）的問題，同時也是收入分化加劇癥狀的表現。不難想到反對上調最低工資的理由：上調將使得公司的用人成本上升；事實上提高失業率，因為高工資將鼓勵更多的人求職；它不會對更宏觀層面的經濟起到什么作用，因為拿最低工資的人并不多。

????這些說法也許有道理，也許沒道理，但白宮已表示，將最低工資提高到9美元將增加約1,500萬低收入工人的工資。這當然比不上收入最高1%人群最近在股市和房市中取得的收益，但正如白宮所講，將最低工資上調1.75美元足以彌補自1980年以來新增收入差距的10-20%。

????這點錢彌合不了貧富差距，但至少能幫助最貧困的人稍許趕上些。（財富中文網）??

????Lately everyone from policymakers to fast-food workers have urged Washington to raise the minimum wage. It's a thorny topic that's spawned countless arguments both for and against an increase, but a new study suggesting that only the richest Americans are recovering from the Great Recession should make opponents rethink a minimum wage hike.

????Income inequality has been a problem for decades, but the gap between the haves and have-nots has worsened in the years following the recession. The rise in home and stock prices may be benefitting the richest Americans, but the poorest are being left behind: From 2009 to 2012, the top 1% incomes grew by 31.4% while the bottom 99% incomes grew a mere 0.4%, according to an updated study by University of California Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty.

????That means the top 1% took more than one-fifth of the income earned by Americans -- one of the highest levels since 1913 when the modern federal income tax started, the economists note. More than that, the top 1% incomes are close to full recovery while the bottom 99% incomes have barely started to recover.

????Raising the minimum wage won't close the gap, but it could certainly ease it. Sadly proposals haven't gone anywhere and face stiff opposition. Last month, fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in 60 U.S. cities to demand a minimum wage of $15 an hour, more than double the current minimum of $7.25 and more than the $9 an hour President Obama proposed in February during his State of the Union address.

????These aren't just workers looking for a raise (aren't we all), but symptoms of bigger income disparity problems. It's easy to argue against raising the minimum wage: that an increase would make hiring more expensive for companies; that it would actually raise the unemployment rate, since higher wages would encourage more people to apply for jobs; that it wouldn't help the broader economy because only a few workers actually earned the minimum wage.

????That may or may not be so, but the White House has said raising the minimum wage to $9 would boost wages for about 15 million low-income workers. This of course wouldn't equal to gains the top 1% of earners have enjoyed recently from the stock market and home prices, but as the White House has said, a $1.75 increase in the minimum wage would be enough to offset roughly 10% to 20% of the increase in income inequality since 1980.

????That won't close the gap between rich and poor, but it would at least help the very poor play catch-up.