It’s one thing to grasp that the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer, but to see statistics bearing this out is jarring.

Business Insider recently published “22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America.” Some of the figures they put together to prove this claim are staggering and should give pause to every working American.

As the story points out, free trade agreements have been driving down wages in the U.S. for years—something labor unions such as the Teamsters said they would do since their inception. Something our politicians and business leaders neglected to mention when pushing through these misguided trade deals was that working Americans would have to compete for jobs against people in countries with no minimum wage and few regulations.

Here are some of the more appalling statistics from the story:

• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30-to-1. Since 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300- and 500-to-one.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the U.S. now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010—the highest rate in 20 years.

The numbers are grim, but there’s still hope for working Americans and the middle class. In addition to the economy showing signs of recovery, the U.S. still has a strong and vibrant labor movement.

Though the middle class is shrinking and the gulf between the rich and poor is growing, union members have more job security, better pay and benefits.

According to American Rights at Work, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for workers, union jobs can help rebuild the middle class and promote economic growth. Here are some stats American Rights at Work put together that should give hope:

• A 2009 report by the Center for American Progress Action Fund found that with a modest increase in unionization, new union workers would earn an estimated $49 billion more in wages and salaries per year.
• A study conducted by the nonprofit Economic Roundtable in 2007 found that the wages negotiated by union workers in Los Angeles add $7.2 billion a year in pay. As these workers spend their income on food, clothing, child care, home repairs, and other items, their additional buying power creates 64,800 jobs and $11 billion in economic output.
• A 2005 report by an economist on behalf of the Small Business Administration found that a higher percentage of unionized workers in a state significantly reduced the probability of small business failures.