Life comes in threes for Latonia Best. She has three bachelor’s degrees, is raising three children on her own and has been working for three years as a special needs teacher.
Once upon a time, this middle-aged professional, who is putting her daughters through university too, would have been considered solidly middle class. Yet that full-time teaching job pays just $3,333.33 a month, a household salary that is now below official definitions of middle income – even when adjusted for the relatively low cost of living in a town such as Goldsboro, North Carolina, where she works.
When tax and medical insurance are deducted, her take-home figure drops by more than a third, after which money for food, housing, a car and college tuition has to be found. To make the numbers add up, she has to work three other jobs a week.
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On the 3rd of the month, you can’t walk in the door downstairs for people with benefit checks,” Parr says. “One large employer locally estimates it processes $300,000 to $400,000 a month in garnishments from employee paychecks.”
A county-wide hotline number to offer emergency advice saw 31,000 calls between March and June, with 35% looking for help with utility bills, 27% seeking housing assistance and a growing minority looking for food banks.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/07/middle-class-squeeze-money-household
