“There is an aura of redistribution of income from middle income to upper income.”
The study acknowledges that “middle class” can connote more than just income — like a college education, white-collar work, economic security, homeownership or even self-image —
but for the purposes of the study, it was defined by income.
Households that earned from two-thirds to double the national median income were defined as middle income in the Pew study; in the United States
that translated into annual income of $35,294 to $105,881, after taxes, in 2010.
“Financially, the U. S. remains well ahead of the countries in Europe,” Mr. Kochhar said.
The United States, including the middle class, has a higher median income than nearly all of Europe, even if the Continent is catching up.
For people with kids, I can only imagine how tough they got it.”
A version of this article appears in print on April 25, 2017, on Page B2 of the New
York edition with the headline: U. S. Middle Class Shrank in 20 Years, Study Finds.
Whether in Europe or the United States, technological change and globalization mean
that people who can adapt and learn new skills can reap bigger rewards, Mr. Kochhar said.
“Compared with the Western European experience, the adult population in the U. S. is more
economically divided,” said Rakesh Kochhar, associate director for research at Pew.