Despite the pandemic, wage growth held firm for most U.S. workers, with little effect on inequality
Earnings overall have held steady through the pandemic in part because lower-wage workers experienced steeper job losses.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Earnings overall have held steady through the pandemic in part because lower-wage workers experienced steeper job losses.
About one-in-four Black households and one-in-seven Hispanic households had no wealth or were in debt in 2021, compared with about one-in-ten U.S. households overall.
Income inequality nearly doubled among Asians in the U.S. from 1970 to 2016. Sizable income gaps persist across racial and ethnic groups, a new study finds.
While the size of the U.S. middle class remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2016, financial gains for middle-income Americans were modest compared with those of higher-income households.
In the U.S., the racial and ethnic wealth gap has evolved differently for families at different income levels since the Great Recession.
China and India both succeeded in slashing poverty from 2001 to 2011. But while that contributed to a rapidly growing middle class in China, it did little to increase the number of Indians who could be considered middle income.
The share of Americans who live in middle-income households has held steady since 2010 – a flat trend that might actually be good news.
Today about as many Americans identify themselves as lower or lower-middle class (40%) as say they are in the middle class (44%).
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