As millions of people have filed for unemployment since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the rich continue to get richer, while the number of unemployment claims continues to rise.
According to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies think tank, billionaires in the United States have seen a cumulative growth of more than $637 billion from March 18 to June 11. During the same three-month period, over 44 million individuals have filed for unemployment in the US, with more claims being submitted on a daily basis.
Billionaires in the US have seen their cumulative wealth go from $2.95 trillion to $3.58 trillion over the past 12 weeks, accounting for a 21.5 percent increase. In the last week alone, their overall wealth jumped $72 billion. Conversely, 1.5 million unemployment claims were filed within the past week in the US.
Per Forbes — which the IPS used the publication’s list of billionaires to calculate recent growth in real time — the wealth of billionaires in the US declined from the numbers in 2019 as of April 7. However, these losses were quickly recovered within weeks.
The US is currently home to 623 billionaires, including the likes of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.
