The State of the American Middle Class
As the financial divide has grown, a smaller share of Americans now live in middle-class households. Here are key facts about this group.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
As the financial divide has grown, a smaller share of Americans now live in middle-class households. Here are key facts about this group.
The share of Asian Americans in the U.S. middle class has held steady since 2010, while the share in the upper-income tier has grown.
Nearly one-in-five middle-income families report receiving unemployment benefits in 2020.
The global middle class consisted of 54 million fewer people in 2020 than the number projected prior to the onset of the pandemic.
As the nation’s economy contracted at a record rate in recent months, the group’s unemployment rate rose sharply, particularly among Hispanic women, and remains higher among Hispanic workers than U.S. workers overall.
About six-in-ten U.S. adults say there’s too much economic inequality in the country these days, and among that group, most say addressing it requires significant changes to the country’s economic system, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Americans with lower incomes are particularly likely to have concerns related to the digital divide and the digital “homework gap.”
The abrupt closure of many offices and workplaces this past spring ushered in a new era of remote work for millions of employed Americans and may portend a significant shift in the way a large segment of the workforce operates in the future.
Majorities of Americans say the federal government does not provide enough help for older people (65%), poor people (62%) and the middle class (61%). By contrast, nearly two-thirds (64%) say the government provides too much help for wealthy people.
From 1991 to 2010, the middle class expands in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but, as in the United States, shrinks in Germany, Italy and Spain
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