Member's name: Hoàng Thị Huyền – 5093106410

Đặng Thị Yến - 5093106371

I. Introduction
Economic development is the process of growing and improving all aspects
of the economy. It includes economic growth and at the same time completeness in
terms of economic structure, institutions, and quality of life.

II. Wealth-poverty gap of America and Lessons learned for

Vietnam
1. Wealth-poverty gap of America

How to better understand the economic development of a country?

Therefore, we choose the factor that distinguishes between the rich and the poor in
the US to highlight this issue and draw lessons for Vietnam.

According to the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the overall wealth of Americans

in the first half of 2020, shows that there is a clear disparity in wealth by race, age,
and class.

Specifically, while the richest 1% of Americans have total assets of $32.4

trillion and are likely to increase in the future, the poorest 50% - about 165 million
people - hold only 2.08 trillion USD
 The number of assets owned by the richest 1% of Americans compared
to the total wealth of the US economy

Employment for the lowest quintile of Americans, less than $27,000 a year,
is still 20% below January 2020 levels. We can see that 30 million adults live in
households with insufficient food and one in five people face food scarcity.

Covid-19 has exacerbated inequality in the US. Job losses rose sharply
among low-wage service workers, and at the same time, the virus infected and
killed people of color. Meanwhile, many rich people are seeing their accounts
increase in value after the US Treasury and the Fed injected stimulus measures to
the economy.

Another reason for the disparity between rich and poor is that the vast
majority of Americans have not benefited from rising stock prices. Fed data shows
that the richest 1% own more than 50% of equity in corporations and mutual fund
stocks, the next 9% own more than a third of the shares. This means that the richest
10% of Americans hold more than 88% of the stock market.
 Fed data also shows that white Americans hold 83.9% of the nation's wealth,
even though the share of white Americans in the total population has declined
somewhat as America has become more diverse. , and black people make up a low
percentage.

We can see the picture of racial inequality in America

The trend toward ever-lower unemployment rates should not obscure the
fact that African Americans systematically suffer higher unemployment rates than
whites, even in a good labor market. The unemployment rate for Black workers
remains higher than that for white workers even when looking at subpopulations.
The data further show that African Americans typically face higher unemployment
than whites regardless of age, gender, education, and veteran status
 Regardless of educational attainment by Black workers, they typically have
a higher rate of unemployment than their white college-educated counterparts.
Among college graduates, for example, the Black unemployment rate averaged 2.8
percent from November 2018 to October 2019, 40 percent higher than the 2
percent rate for white college graduates in the same period. While college
attainment helps all workers get more access to better-paying, stable jobs with
better benefits, the advantages are not evenly distributed. Black workers, no matter
their level of education, still face impediments in the labor market—employment
discrimination, occupational segregation, and unequal pay.

Gender inequality in wages in the US. According to US statistics in 2019,

women receive only 82 cents compared to the 1 USD that men earn in the same
job. Currently, income inequality by gender is gradually narrowing but continues
to occur.

 It can be seen that the gap between the rich and the poor in the US is
widening, and it is necessary to take measures to narrow this problem
2. Lessons learned for Vietnam

From the problems of America's rich-poor gap today, Vietnam needs to

learned lessons to reduce the gap between rich and poor.

It can be seen that the United States is divided into many different parties,
affecting the socio-political situation leading to not being fair to the people,
increasing the rich and the poor, the rich are still rich and the poor are still poor.
Only political stability can develop and grow the economy stably and at the same
time carry out societal fairness, that is create a democratic and fair environment for
the working people, including the poor to they become subjects with a position in
society. It is a democratic and fair environment that is the surest guarantee of
citizens' basic rights. Implementing democratic equality creates a driving force to
promote the process of resolving the gap between rich and poor in Vietnam today.

The Government of Vietnam should actively participate in policies to

support low-income people. Because policies to support low-income groups still
exist but many policies are not really suitable for their rights and priorities,
ineffectively implemented causing negative consequences for the poor. Inequality
in Vietnam is similar to inequality in the US so Vietnam should put poverty
reduction at the center of its inequality reduction strategy; it is necessary to
constantly promote and improve the effectiveness of poverty reduction policies;
improve the quality of training. In the current market economy, it is necessary to
ensure a fair healthy and transparent competitive environment among, individuals
and organizations. Besides the labor market in Vietnam also has income disparities
between men and women because there is still gender inequality. Just like the US
on income inequality between men and women, in Vietnam the income difference
of women will only be 80% of that of men by 2020. In Vietnam, the average
monthly income of male workers is 6.1 million VND, nearly 1.5 times higher than
female workers (4.3 million VND). Thus, in order to reduce inequality in the labor
market, especially in rural, mountainous and remote areas, it is necessary to
propagate and disseminate knowledge about gender equality widely to raise
awareness about the role, rights and position of women in society in order to have
an equal impact on jobs and wages for women.
 In the United States, there is a rich-poor gap between black and white
people, while Vietnam has a rich-poor gap in urban and rural income. Therefore, in
order to shorten the gap for people in rural areas, Vietnam needs to continue to
promote industrialization and modernization; focus on industrialization and
modernization of agriculture and rural areas. For Vietnam, a country where the
majority of people work in agriculture and live in rural areas, the implementation
of this solution will not only bring about economic growth and development of the
country, but soon bring Vietnam to its industrial goals, soon bring Vietnam to
achieve the goal of industrialization and modernization of the country towards
modernity. It also directly contributes to improving the material and spiritual life of
farmers, reduce the gap between rich and poor between regions, between rural and
urban areas.

Below is a table showing income between urban and rural areas in Vietnam
for the period 2016-2020

Table 1: GINI coefficient for the period 2016-2020

2016 2018 2019 2020

Chung 0.431 0.425 0.423 0.373
Phân theo thành thị
nông thôn
Thành thị 0.391 0.373 0.373 0.325
Nông thôn 0.408 0.408 0.415 0.373
( Source: General Statistics Office)

III. Conclusion
In order to have a fair and developed socio-economy, Vietnam needs to thoroughly
understand the difference between rich and poor in all areas and fields so that the
poor feel they are not left behind but also take it, motivate the poor to overcome
difficulties.

IV. Reference documents

1. https://vnexpress.net/khoang-cach-giau-ngheo-tai-my-noi-rong-qua-
nam-covid-19-4222907.html
2. https://www.ntdvn.com/kinh-te/gioi-tinh-hoa-my-giau-co-ky-luc-nho-
dai-dich-va-hon-loan-bao-nhieu-va-tai-sao-214155.html
3. https://vtv.vn/the-gioi/dich-covid-19-lam-gia-tang-bat-binh-dang-gioi-
ve-tien-luong-tai-my-20210325181525552.htm
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trang-va-giai-phap/?
fbclid=IwAR29m9KIL2UYm7ZeC0h0A00mjkXwP4qJxo1Deunm_quC
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7. https://thanhtien109.blogspot.com/2011/05/34-nhung-giai-phap-e-han-
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fbclid=IwAR2KFfwuUT1j_qbl40PmXfdUkJD89wBctpeFXZXBGGkxE
8-XU9MFmkchy1k
8. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/
2019/12/05/478150/african-americans-face-systematic-obstacles-getting-
good-jobs/