Looking ahead to 2050, Americans are pessimistic about many aspects of life in U.S.
Majorities of Americans foresee widening income gaps, tougher financial times for older Americans and intensifying political divisions.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Majorities of Americans foresee widening income gaps, tougher financial times for older Americans and intensifying political divisions.
Despite some ups and downs over the past several decades, today’s real average wage in the U.S. has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And most of what wage gains there have been have flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.
In the U.S., the racial and ethnic wealth gap has evolved differently for families at different income levels since the Great Recession.
American voters express relatively little confidence in either major party presidential candidate when it comes to their ability to help American workers prepare to compete in today’s economy.
The American middle class is smaller than middle classes across Western Europe, but its income is higher.
The share of Americans who live in middle-income households has held steady since 2010 – a flat trend that might actually be good news.
The median wealth of white households was 13 times the wealth of black households and 10 times that of Hispanic households in 2013, compared with eight and nine times, respectively, in 2010.
For the first time on record, nearly one out of every two dollars in aggregate U.S. household income went to the college educated.
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