Wall Street Journal (04/18/12) Neil Shah

The wage gap among U.S. workers is getting bigger. According to U.S. Department of Labor numbers released April 17, between the end of the recession in mid-2009 and the first quarter of this year, earnings of U.S. workers at the top of the pay scale rose 7%, while the wages of those at the bottom rose just 2.5%. The gap in growth rates has persisted for decades. Economists cite globalization, which has shifted many U.S. low-skilled, high-paid manufacturing jobs overseas. Of the jobs created in the past two years, about 40% have been in low-paying industries such as retail and restaurants, according to Wells Fargo Securities.