Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life

[marmar]

from Pew Research:



Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life
April 9, 2008

Executive Summary

This report on the attitudes and lives of the American middle class combines results of a new Pew Research Center national public opinion survey with the center's analysis of relevant economic and demographic trend data from the Census Bureau. Among its key findings:

Fewer Americans now than at any time in the past half century believe they're moving forward in life.

Americans feel stuck in their tracks. A majority of survey respondents say that in the past five years, they either haven't moved forward in life (25%) or have fallen backwards (31%). This is the most downbeat short-term assessment of personal progress in nearly half a century of polling by the Pew Research Center and the Gallup organization.

When asked to measure their progress over a longer time frame, Americans are more upbeat. Nearly two-thirds say they have a higher standard of living than their parents had when their parents were their age.

For decades, middle-income Americans had been making absolute progress while enduring relative decline. But since 1999, they have not made economic gains.

As of 2006 (the last year for which trend data are available), real median annual household income had not yet returned to its 1999 peak, making this decade one of the longest downturns ever for this widely-accepted measure of the middle-class standard of living. Over a longer time period, the picture is much brighter; since 1970, median household income has risen by 41%.

However, this long-term prosperity has not spread evenly. The upper-income tier (households with annual incomes above 150% of the median) has outperformed the middle tier (households with annual incomes between 75% and 150% of the median) -- not just in income gains, but also in wealth accumulation. From 1983 to 2004, the median net worth of upper-income families more than doubled, while the median net worth of middle-income families grew by just 29%. In effect, those in the middle have been making progress in absolute terms while falling behind in relative terms. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/793/inside-the-middle-class

[Kittycat]

1. Better standard of living by what means?

Their parents scrimped and saved. That's less common among the middle class these days.