Benzinga - by Chris Katje, Benzinga Staff Writer.
A strong stock market in 2023 helped boost the wealth of the world's richest people.
However, a new report shows that most people are working longer hours for less money.
What Happened: According to Oxfam, the top five richest people gained 114% in wealth over the past three years.
The five billionaires used in the report are:
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk
- LVMH (OTC:LVMHF)(OTC:LVMUY) CEO Bernard Arnault
- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos
- Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) Executive Chairman Larry Ellison
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK)(NYSE:BRK) CEO Warren Buffett
As Benzinga previously reported, the $465.4 billion gain by the top 10 richest people was more than the entire market capitalization of Walmart Inc, Samsung, Broadcom, Mastercard or ExxonMobil.
The wealth of the five richest people has doubled since 2020 going from $405 billion to $869 billion. Meanwhile, the wealth of the poorest 60% of the world — around five billion people — saw their wealth fall 0.2% over the same period.
The report used the wealth of the five billionaires beginning from March 2020 and going through November 2023, using the Forbes real-time billionaires list.
"If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty won't be eradicated for another 229 years," the report said.
Oxfam, citing Wealth X data, showed that the world's richest 1% own 43% of all financial assets worldwide.
Related Link: If You Had A Nickel For Every Search Done On Google, Here's How Long It Would Take To Equal Elon Musk's Wealth
Why It's Important: While the rich get richer, the report highlights that people around the world are working longer hours and wages have fallen.
"These extremes cannot be accepted as the new norm, the world can't afford another decade of division," Oxfam's interim CEO Aleema Shivji said. "Extreme poverty in the poorest countries is still higher than it was pre-pandemic, yet a small number of super-rich men are racing to become the world's first trillionaire within the next ten years."
Shivji said policies on fairer taxation and support from all people globally are needed.
"Governments worldwide are making deliberate political choices that enable and encourage this distorted concentration of wealth, while hundreds of millions of people live in poverty."
Among the ideas Oxfam proposes are progressive wealth taxes, capping CEO pay and imposing new taxes on corporations.
The report also suggests mandatory living wages paid to workers and breaking up companies that are monopolies.
While many billionaires saw their wealth increase in 2023, many are also philanthropic. Buffett and others made large donations to charity throughout the year.
Benzinga also shared that millions of new brokerage accounts were opened in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that more people hope to build wealth by investing in public companies.
Read Next: The Wealth Paradox: Defining Wealth Depends On Who You Ask, And Who You’re Asking About
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