Polarization is serious The American middle class is shrinking.
Memory
www.diecastingpartsupplier.com
2016-05-31 18:44:53
The middle class in America's cities has shrunk dramatically in the 21st century.
A Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data looked at the state of the middle class in America's metropolitan areas. Pew defined "middle-income" households as those whose income fell between two-thirds and twice the national median household income.
Between 2000 and 2014, 203 out of the 229 metropolitan areas analyzed had a decline in the percentage of their populations that fell in that middle-income range.
Pew observed that the decline in the middle class is associated with an overall increase in inequality in the US.
Pew also noted that the drop in the percentage of households that fall in the middle coincides with an overall decline in incomes. Pew's report pointed out that in the time period covered, real median household incomes in the US as a whole fell by 8%.
The decline of the middle class in America's cities is one of the biggest political and economic problems of the 21st century, and Pew's analysis shows the severity of the problem.
"The current and future status of the American middle class continues to be a central issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. Moreover, new economic research suggests that a struggling middle class could be holding back the potential for future economic growth," Pew wrote in its report. "The national trend is clear — the middle class is losing ground as a share of the population, and its share of aggregate U.S. household income is also declining."