We all know there’s a retirement crisis in this country.

Studies abound that indicate that Americans are having a toughtime saving for retirement—and no wonder, with most workers livingpaycheck to paycheck.

It’s tough to squeeze out retirement savings from a check thatbarely lasts till the next one comes in.

Yet a few dissonant voices claim that there’s no retirement crisis—that people are doing justfine, thank you very much, nothing to see here, move along.

But that can be explained by the results of a study from the Economic Policy Institute, whichpoints out that the “average” amount of retirement savings ofAmericans is skewed by the 1 percent.

CNBC reports that the disparity in savings betweenthe 1 percent and the rest of us is so great that the ones at thebottom can’t even dream about rising above their percentile.

In fact, the report cites the EPI study’s figures indicatingthat “the top one percent of families had $1.08 million or morestashed away in 2013. That’s 216 times the median working-agefamily (50th percentile), which had only $5,000 saved in 2013.”

The report adds that families in the 90th percentile had$274,000 squirreled away—a whopping 55 times the total of themedian American family.

And families in the 80th percentile had $116,000, or 23 timesthe median family.

EPI study researchers write, “Participation in retirementsavings plans is highly unequal across income groups. In 2013,nearly nine in 10 families in the top income fifth had retirementaccount savings, compared with fewer than one in 10 families in thebottom income fifth.” Now no matter how you look at it, those arenot good odds for the families on the bottom.

One must remember that there’s a bigdifference—literally—between a mean and a median. Or, as the reportexplains, the median retirement savings for all families in theU.S. is $5,000, and the median for families with some savings is$60,000.

But “[t]he large gap between mean retirement savings ($95,776)and median retirement savings ($5,000) indicates inequality—thatthe large account balances of families with the most savings aredriving up the average for all families,” the EPI report says.

The report also finds that retirement wealth simply hasn’t grownquickly enough to keep up with the needs of an aging population andother changes—thanks in part to the shift to 401(k)s from definedbenefit plans—and that Social Security is playing an expanding rolein people’s retirement income “due to benefit cuts passed in 1983that are gradually taking effect.”