The American middle class has been declining for decades. But even in its diminished state, presidential candidates still play to it, promising to protect middle-class families, defend middle-class values and cut middle-class taxes. So what is this decaying economic group, and who's part of it? The AJC polled residents in 10 metro counties to find out. Click here for more information about the poll and why the AJC conducted it.
The sandwich generation is fed up (actually, most of us are fed up)
The takeaway: It seems that things have gotten worse for the middle class, not just in recent years but as far back as most metro Atlanta residents can remember. That's huge.
AJC poll nuggets: By 2-1, poll respondents said things have worsened over the course of their lifetimes. That sentiment was remarkably uniform, with just a couple of groups – notably, Latinos and people younger than 45 – having a more upbeat take.
The most downbeat by far were people aged 45 to 64; more than 80 percent of them said things have gotten worse. The oldest group, those 65 and older, was slightly less negative, perhaps because its members enjoy the benefits of both Medicare and Social Security.
On several questions, the age 45 was a sharp dividing line, with those on the older side of the line reporting more financial stress, a stronger inclination to blame the government for it (younger folks put more blame on private corporations and people themselves), greater trepidation about the next generation’s economic prospects and more angst about the reported shrinkage of the middle class.
By the numbers: Americans enjoy higher incomes today than in the past, but since the 1970s the increases have not be distributed evenly across income brackets, with the middle brackets lagging behind.
Using the broadest definition of the middle class (the 60 percent of people in the middle of the income distribution), inflation-adjusted, pre-tax income rose 29 percent from 1979 to 2011. That’s according to the most nuanced analysis around, produced by the Congressional Budget Office. (Unlike the census, for example, the CBO adjusts for household size and includes the value of non-cash government benefits such as food stamps and Medicare in its calculations.)
By comparison, the bottom income bracket saw a 40 percent boost (including the value of government assistance), and the top segment (excluding the top 1 percent) saw an increase of 59 percent. Those in the top 1 percent far outpaced everybody else, with a jump of 175 percent.
As for the malaise of the middle-aged, income figures alone don’t explain it. Georgia households headed by people aged 45-64 have the highest median incomes of any age cohort, about $57,000. But, sandwiched between children and aging parents, they may also face the greatest financial – as well as emotional and time – demands.
Various national studies have documented the squeeze on middle class adults, which was only intensified by the last decade’s economic travails.
In 2013, the Pew Research Center surveyed American adults 40 to 59. Nearly half of them reported providing full or partial financial support for a grown child, and more than 20 percent said they helped an aging parent financially. About 15 percent of were doing both.
In the wake of the recession, “the financial burdens associated with caring for multiple generations of family members are mounting, report noted. “The increased pressure is coming primarily from grown children rather than aging parents.” In other words, grown kids are taking longer to launch, putting a financial strain on mom and dad in the meantime.
About the poll
This survey that forms the basis of this report was conducted for the AJC by the A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Service & Research at Kennesaw State University. It was conducted by telephone June 17-24 with 625 adult residents of 10 metro Atlanta counties*. The survey included both landline telephones and cellphones. Prior to analysis, the results were weighted by mode (landline vs. cell), gender, age, education, race, ethnic origin (Latino vs. non-Latino), household size and county of residence to reflect the distribution of these characteristics in the adult population in the Atlanta area. The margin of error for the sample as a whole is ± 4%.
* Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Rockdale
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