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But, an encouraging sign, the middle class has stopped shrinking for the first time in decades, reports the Pew Research Center.

For the first time in decades, the middle class is not shrinking.(Photo: Getty Images)

A small majority of American adults (52%) lived in middle-class households in 2016, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. This might seem only a slight improvement over the previous reference period in 2011, when the figure was 51%, but in a sense, it 's a noticeable reversal: d & # 39; after Pew's previous studies, the size of the American middle class was stable. since 1971, when 61% of American adults fell into this category.

But while this snapshot indicates that the middle class has stabilized after decades of reduction, the income disparity between classes has increased. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the median middle-class household earned more in 2016 ($ 78,442) than in 2010 ($ 74,015), a gain of 6%. High income households experienced a median increase of 9% over the same period. Low-income households only recorded a gain of 5%.

One point to note: When Pew maps these class boundaries, it does not use a single set of fixed dollar amounts. Its formula takes into account the number of people in a household and the cost of living in each region, as well as household income. Basically, though, "[m]Middle-income households – those with incomes twice the median US income – had incomes ranging from $ 45,200 to $ 135,600 in 2016, "says Pew.

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Stuck in the middle?

The number of American adults living in high-income households rose from 14% in 1971 to 19% in 2016, while the percentage of people living in low-income households rose from 25% to 29%. Thus, over the past five decades, the middle class has declined, while the upper and lower classes have equalized.

Now for the less good news. These earnings gains from 2010 to 2016 are largely an artifact of the Great Recession. The median inflation-adjusted incomes in 2010 were well below those of 2000 due to the economic slowdown, and comparing 2000 and 2016, middle-class incomes barely moved. Low-income families are actually still about 5% less than their median incomes in 2000.

The upper class, on the other hand, has benefited from a median income increase of about 2% since 2000 – another data point confirming the growing financial gap between higher income groups and the rest of the population.

"The wealth gap between high-income families and low- and middle-income families in 2016 was at the highest level recorded," wrote Rakesh Kochhar of Pew. "Although the wealth of high-income families has more than recovered losses during the Great Recession, the wealth of low- and middle-income families in 2016 was comparable to 1989 levels. Thus, even though the middle class is declining ( for the time being), it continues to degrade behind high-income households, reflecting the continuing rise in income inequality across the United States. "

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According to an annual report on global wealth.
Time

Hold firm

While the growing gap between high-income households and all others is worrisome, it is encouraging that the middle class has stopped declining and that the proportion of American adults living in low-income households income is also stabilized. Of course, there are still too many families for whom a stable, middle-class lifestyle remains an elusive dream, but there are signs of hope on the whole.

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