{"id":9111,"date":"2017-05-11T10:56:52","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T10:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=9111"},"modified":"2017-05-12T03:59:36","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T03:59:36","slug":"what-france-and-the-uk-can-teach-trump-about-reviving-americas-middle-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/what-france-and-the-uk-can-teach-trump-about-reviving-americas-middle-class\/","title":{"rendered":"What France and the UK can teach Trump about reviving America’s middle class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Pressman<\/a>, Colorado State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

America\u2019s middle class is in deep trouble<\/a>. \"The<\/p>\n

Signs of its decline<\/a> are everywhere, from stagnant incomes<\/a> and falling wealth to soaring household debt<\/a> and the rise of populist politicians<\/a> promising a return to the \u201cglory days.\u201d <\/p>\n

While there is near universal<\/a> agreement<\/a> that a thriving middle class is essential to long-term economic prosperity, we\u2019re deeply divided about what builds it. Conservatives, such as those in the White House<\/a> and in control of Congress, contend that lower taxes<\/a> are a key ingredient. Liberals argue<\/a> it comes down to government policies that give low earners a leg up and support<\/a> those already in the middle. <\/p>\n

My own research<\/a> on trends in the U.S. and eight other developed countries looks at what conditions create more middle-income households. If President Donald Trump really wants to help the working class voters who elected him, he should look to what other developed nations have been doing to sustain a large middle class. <\/p>\n

His current proposals, I believe, will simply accelerate its erosion in the United States.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s shrinking middle class<\/h2>\n

Americans are telling pollsters<\/a> that it is becoming harder to attain middle-class status, with barely half identifying themselves as part of that group. That\u2019s down from 63 percent as recently as pre-crisis 2008. <\/p>\n

And that\u2019s with good reason. The fraction of total income<\/a> going to middle income households (earning US$43,511 to $117,002) dropped to 45.7 percent in 2015 from 53.2 percent in 1968. And most of that went to the top 5 percent, whose share climbed to 22.1 percent from 18.3 percent. <\/p>\n

For my own research<\/a>, I sought a more precise measure, one that shows who is middle-class, the group\u2019s size and how it\u2019s changed over time. I also wanted a gauge that would facilitate comparisons with other developed nations. <\/p>\n

Measuring the middle class<\/h2>\n

So what does it mean to be middle-class? It\u2019s not an easy question to answer. <\/p>\n

I started with the Luxembourg Income Study<\/a> (LIS) database, which contains harmonized income data on 50 countries over five decades. Unfortunately, LIS data are not available for every country for every year, and the latest years available are 2010 or 2013. Still it offers the best data available for this sort of calculation. <\/p>\n

To determine a range of incomes necessary for a typical family to afford a middle-class lifestyle, I relied on methodology developed by Mollie Orshansky<\/a> in the early 1960s to measure poverty and consulted several studies<\/a> and surveys<\/a> on how much income is necessary to be middle-class. Details can be found here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For the U.S., this means a two-person family would be middle-class in 2013 if its income was $37,140 to $110,865 (regardless of geographic location). A family of four would be considered middle-class with income in the $54,281 to $162,033 range. <\/p>\n

My computations show that just half of U.S. households in 2013 were middle-class, down from almost 60 percent in 1980. The decline was fairly continuous, the only exception being the late 1990s, when a booming economy increased the size of the U.S. middle class slightly. <\/p>\n

Every other developed country I examined has a larger middle class, ranging from 57 percent (Canada and the U.K.) to more than 65 percent (Sweden, France and Norway). While in some cases, the middle class did fall since the 1980s, as it did in the U.S., nowhere was the decline nearly as severe. And in France, it actually expanded over this period. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n