<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5f231dd37924a1778f495344-2222/unemployment%20insurance%20poverty%20job%20loss%20economic%20recession%20america%20coronavirus%20pandemic%20.jpg" border="0" alt="unemployment insurance poverty job loss economic recession america coronavirus pandemic " data-mce-source="Scott Heins/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="New Yorkers in need wait in a long line to receive free produce, dry goods, and meat at Lincoln Center on July 29, 2020."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>From the end of 2019 to 2020, the top 1% of Americans added just about $4 trillion to their wealth.</p><p>According to data from the <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/#quarter:125;series:Net%20worth;demographic:networth;population:all;units:levels">Federal Reserve</a>, the top 1% of Americans held about $34.58 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2019. By the fourth quarter of 2020, they had $38.61 trillion.</p><p>They gained just about that much in 2019 too; the top 1% had $30.35 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2018, and had $34.58 trillion by the end of 2019.</p><p>Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans don't even hold as much wealth in total as the top 1% gained in 2020. At the end of 2020, the bottom 50% had $2.49 trillion in total household wealth.</p><p>The bottom half increased their wealth by $0.47 trillion from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020. While that's a far cry from the gains the top 1% saw, it's still almost a 25% increase from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/">Federal Reserve provides data</a> on household wealth for different groups, including broken down by wealth percentile. The following chart highlights household wealth by wealth percentile over the past two decades:</p><div><iframe title="Household wealth by wealth percentile" aria-label="Interactive line chart" id="datawrapper-chart-rB0fJ" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/rB0fJ/6/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="450"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}();</script></div><p>Even before 2020, household wealth did not increase much for the bottom 50%. The bottom 50% held 3.4% of wealth in the first quarter of 2000, higher than the 2.0% they held at the end of 2020.</p><h2>Inequality has worsened during the pandemic</h2><p>Broadly, the pandemic has seen a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-k-shaped-recovery-coronavirus-pandemic">K-shaped recovery</a>, where higher-income Americans see their wages and jobs grow, and lower-income Americans experience the opposite. But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-income-inequality-record-high-generational-wealth-2019-9">income inequality</a> isn't a new pandemic problemas the chart shows, vast disparities existed prior to March 2020.</p><p>But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-market-low-wage-minority-workers-hardest-hit-fed-study-2021-2">low-wage and non-white workers</a> have been continually hit the hardest throughout the pandemic. And post-pandemic prospects for low-wage workers are also murky: most of them may <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mckinsey-high-paying-jobs-grow-post-pandemic-low-wage-shrink-2021-2">have to change careers</a>, and pick up new skills to stay afloat.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-is-reportedly-getting-even-more-serious-about-taxing-wealthy-2021-3" >Biden is reportedly getting even more serious about taxing the wealthy</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-1-americans-added-4-trillion-to-wealth-in-2020-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-if-jump-off-international-space-station-2018-6">What would happen if you jumped off the International Space Station</a></p>
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