3 ms·

> the middle class continues to shrink Can you elaborate on this please. Thank you.

bobthepanda 6y ago
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/#upper-income-households-have-seen-more-rapid-growth-in-income-in-recent-decades https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-... > The growth in income in recent decades has tilted to upper-income households. At the same time, the U.S. middle class, which once comprised the clear majority of Americans, is shrinking. Thus, a greater share of the nation’s aggregate income is now going to upper-income households and the share going to middle- and lower-income households is falling.9 > The share of American adults who live in middle-income households has decreased from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2019. This downsizing has proceeded slowly but surely since 1971, with each decade thereafter typically ending with a smaller share of adults living in middle-income households than at the beginning of the decade. > But middle-class incomes have not grown at the rate of upper-tier incomes. From 1970 to 2018, the median middle-class income increased from $58,100 to $86,600, a gain of 49%.10 This was considerably less than the 64% increase for upper-income households, whose median income increased from $126,100 in 1970 to $207,400 in 2018. Households in the lower-income tier experienced a gain of 43%, from $20,000 in 1970 to $28,700 in 2018. (Incomes are expressed in 2018 dollars.) > More tepid growth in the income of middle-class households and the reduction in the share of households in the middle-income tier led to a steep fall in the share of U.S. aggregate income held by the middle class. From 1970 to 2018, the share of aggregate income going to middle-class households fell from 62% to 43%. Over the same period, the share held by upper-income households increased from 29% to 48%. The share flowing to lower-income households inched down from 10% in 1970 to 9% in 2018. > These trends in income reflect the growth in economic inequality overall in the U.S. in the decades since 1980.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  This article seems to conflate middle-class and middle-income. It even switches from one to the other seemingly at random during the text!
  - quadrangle 6y ago
    This is confused in almost every discussion. "Middle class" usually means "middle income" in most cases as people use it. They mean "wealth comparable to that of historic middle-class level" often. Yes, we could have a "middle class" of managers and white-collar workers who just struggle to get by on the same low wealth of working-class laborers. Class and wealth are often just confused because of the ways they are correlated.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    I had to click through a few times to find this definition on the same website: >Middle-income households – those with an income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income – had incomes ranging from about $48,500 to $145,500 in 2018. Lower-income households had incomes less than $48,500 and upper-income households had incomes greater than $145,500 (all figures computed for three-person households, adjusted for the cost of living in a metropolitan area, and expressed in 2018 dollars). Although, I would not agree with equating the above to middle class. In fact, I would simply never use the word "class" as it's utility in a discussion is zero except to evoke an emotional response, in my experience.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]

https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/#upper-income-households-have-seen-more-rapid-growth-in-income-in-recent-decades https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-... > The growth in income in recent decades has tilted to upper-income households. At the same time, the U.S. middle class, which once comprised the clear majority of Americans, is shrinking. Thus, a greater share of the nation’s aggregate income is now going to upper-income households and the share going to middle- and lower-income households is falling.9 > The share of American adults who live in middle-income households has decreased from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2019. This downsizing has proceeded slowly but surely since 1971, with each decade thereafter typically ending with a smaller share of adults living in middle-income households than at the beginning of the decade. > But middle-class incomes have not grown at the rate of upper-tier incomes. From 1970 to 2018, the median middle-class income increased from $58,100 to $86,600, a gain of 49%.10 This was considerably less than the 64% increase for upper-income households, whose median income increased from $126,100 in 1970 to $207,400 in 2018. Households in the lower-income tier experienced a gain of 43%, from $20,000 in 1970 to $28,700 in 2018. (Incomes are expressed in 2018 dollars.) > More tepid growth in the income of middle-class households and the reduction in the share of households in the middle-income tier led to a steep fall in the share of U.S. aggregate income held by the middle class. From 1970 to 2018, the share of aggregate income going to middle-class households fell from 62% to 43%. Over the same period, the share held by upper-income households increased from 29% to 48%. The share flowing to lower-income households inched down from 10% in 1970 to 9% in 2018. > These trends in income reflect the growth in economic inequality overall in the U.S. in the decades since 1980.

chrisseaton 6y ago
This article seems to conflate middle-class and middle-income. It even switches from one to the other seemingly at random during the text!
- quadrangle 6y ago
  This is confused in almost every discussion. "Middle class" usually means "middle income" in most cases as people use it. They mean "wealth comparable to that of historic middle-class level" often. Yes, we could have a "middle class" of managers and white-collar workers who just struggle to get by on the same low wealth of working-class laborers. Class and wealth are often just confused because of the ways they are correlated.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  I had to click through a few times to find this definition on the same website: >Middle-income households – those with an income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income – had incomes ranging from about $48,500 to $145,500 in 2018. Lower-income households had incomes less than $48,500 and upper-income households had incomes greater than $145,500 (all figures computed for three-person households, adjusted for the cost of living in a metropolitan area, and expressed in 2018 dollars). Although, I would not agree with equating the above to middle class. In fact, I would simply never use the word "class" as it's utility in a discussion is zero except to evoke an emotional response, in my experience.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]