Given "uses absolute income thresholds adjusted for inflation", the result is not surprising. You would expect this result as long as you had real GDP growth (i

Given "uses absolute income thresholds adjusted for inflation", the result is not surprising. You would expect this result as long as you had real GDP growth (i.e., growth above inflation). What this doesn't tell you is what percentage of that real GDP growth did the middle class get to participate in. And this is where the growing economic disparity is coming from.