Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty /Americans See Middle-Class Dream Slip Away
By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A majority of U.S. adults believe that achieving the American dream—having a steady income, a home for your family, and faith that as long as you work hard, you'd reap the benefits—has become a lot harder than it used to be, according to an exclusive poll for Newsweek.
Fifty-four percent of Americans polled by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek on July 8 said they think it's getting harder to join the middle class in the U.S.
Among millennials—the generation born between 1981 and 1996—the percentage went up to 57 percent, while among Gen Xers—the generation born between 1965 and 1980—it reached 59 percent. It was lower among Gen Zers—born between 1997 and 2012—at 48 percent, and boomers—born between 1946 and 1964—at 51 percent.
Read More on News
More From Newsweek Vault: Checking Account vs. Savings Account: Which is Best for Your Finances?
...
The survey was conducted among a sample population of 1,500 eligible voters in the U.S. Forty-six percent of those polled identified as members of the middle class, while 37 percent identified as working class and 8 percent as upper class. Ten percent didn't know which social class they belonged to.
More From Newsweek Vault: Rates Are Still High for These High-Yield Savings Accounts
Forty-eight percent of those surveyed believed they have not changed their social class throughout their lifetime, while 40 percent said they have. Among those who have changed their status, 46 percent believed they have changed to middle class, while 43 percent said they became working class.
This disillusionment toward the American dream is backed by a recent survey by the Pew Research Center which found that the U.S. middle class has been shrinking for the past 50 years.
According to the study, released in late May, the share of Americans living in middle-class households dropped from 61 percent in 1971 to 51 percent in 2023. During the same time, the share of Americans living in lower-income households rose from 27 percent to 30 percent, while that of individuals living in upper-income households rose from 11 percent to 19 percent.
The center describes the U.S. middle class as those living in households with an annual income that is between two-thirds and twice the national median household income, though the income can vary according to household size.
Robert Blain, a 70-year-old resident of Cedar Falls, Iowa, told Newsweek that he believes that "a middle-class lifestyle will continue to get harder to achieve." Blain believes that "the great bulk" of the U.S. financial woes are the result of losing "a major chunk of its [manufacturing] industrial base" in the past couple of decades, importing an increasing amount of goods from countries like China.
There's truth in Blain's words. Historically, the manufacturing industry used to be a "great way to break into the middle-class, particularly for non-college-educated Americans," author Jeremy Ney wrote in his American Inequality blog. But jobs for Americans without a college degree have shifted toward the service industry, "where the pay is lower, hours are less certain, and collective bargaining is much weaker," according to Ney. The author also added that the rise of the Chinese manufacturing industry and the growth of its exports abroad has corresponded to a decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs that was "not offset by job gains in non-manufacturing jobs."
...
Automation has also replaced a lot of human-led jobs.
As Ney suggested, wages have played a big part in the shrinking of the American middle class.
While the median income of middle-class Americans has risen from $66,400 in 1970 to $106,100 in 2022—a 60 percent growth—, the share of total U.S. household income held by the middle class has dropped since 1970.
During the same five decades, the median income of upper-income households rose by 78 percent (from $144,100 in 1970 to $256,900 in 2022), while lower-income households saw an increase in their median income of only 55 percent (from $22,831 in 1970 to $35,318 in 2022).
In the 1970s the American middle class held 62 percent of the aggregate income of all U.S. households; now they hold only 43 percent. The upper class has grown its share from 29 percent to 48 percent, while that held by lower-income households has remained relatively unchanged.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines