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The Economic Expansion Is Helping the Middle Class, Finally

The New York Times Original article ›

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Porter of the NYT points out that the figures released from census information that the U.S. median household income increased by 5.2% in 2015 to $56,500 is good news for Americans including minority and working class families at the lower tiers. However more needs to happen compared to previous recoveries in the mid-90's, and for people who suffered during the recession to finally put that experience behind them, says Porter. 


Fragility of social cohesion in the U.S. with unemployment concentrated in the lower middle and working classes.

03/11/2009

Figures from the Center of Labor Market Studies of Northeastern University in Boston showing unemployment of 9% in the $40,000 to $50,000 annual household income group and going up to 31% at the lowest income group. Higher inequality as differences in education between lower income and higher income Americans grows. The problem of the long term unemployed is a serious one.

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Income Slides to 1996 Levels

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Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale

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Young and Isolated

New York Times 06/22/2013

OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post

Washington Post 12/06/2011

U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide

Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013

The Great Stagnation in American Education

New York Times 09/07/2013

Tackling middle class poverty in the U.S.- causes and strategies

03/11/2009

Shrinking incomes, low job growth, growth in temporary jobs, offshoring of jobs, are part of a trend since 1989. This is compounded by acceleration of developments during the last decade of low savings and paltry return on savings, effects on net worth of the financial crisis of 2008 through job losses, lost income, foreclosures, high cost of health care and college tution for children. The combination is creating a new kind of middle class poverty in the U.S. The Obama administration has pushed for college education even as it is becoming less affordable and neglected jobs training. The push to raise the minimum wage helps the poor but does not do as much for the middle class.

Grouped Articles

Income Slides to 1996 Levels

Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011

Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale

New York Times 06/09/2013

OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post

Washington Post 12/06/2011

8 States to Raise Minimum Wage

New York Times 12/23/2011

U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide

Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013

Hungry in America

New York Times 02/10/2010

The other roots of increasing inequality in the U.S.- global competition and sourcing, the case of the U.S. auto industry and manufacturing workers

03/24/2015

Auto parts imports into the U.S. from Mexico have increased by 86% since 2008, more than doubled for China. As wages rise in China, India is the next source country for low cost automobile parts from auto industry hubs in Gujarat and Tamilnadu, placing continuous downward pressure on manufacturing wages for the next decade, and the next. Parts imports were $32 billion in 1990, $138 billion in 2014. Workers in manufacturing make as low as $10 an hour today, similar to workers at Wal-Mart. An entire generation of manufacturing workers are now shifted from middle class to lower class from their parents generation to their own, reducing educational mobility in the American system and fewer opportunities for improvement. As more jobs are created in manufacturing than in IT related industries this is a significant hurdle for improving wages and employment in the U.S.

Grouped Articles

U.S. Car-Making Boom? Not for Auto-Industry Workers

Wall Street Journal 03/24/2015

Income Inequality Is Costing the U.S. on Social Issues

New York Times 04/28/2015

Economic-Ladder Concerns Trump Income Gap in Poll

Wall Street Journal 05/05/2015

Sanders, Corbyn and the coming debate inside the Democratic Party - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/13/2015

U.A.W. Contract With Fiat Chrysler Would Give 2nd-Tier Workers Big Raise

New York Times 09/18/2015

A stunning stat about pay seems impossible but actually is true - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/22/2015

Social and economic mobility for the middle class emerging as the central issue in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign

09/13/2015

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in the Demcratic Party, and Jeb Bush in the Republican Party, are making social and economic mobility for the middle and working class a central issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. In Britain Corbyn's election to the leadership of the Labor Party with all other candidates doing poorly, is also creating a focus on economic issues and better access to education and jobs.

Grouped Articles

Sanders, Corbyn and the coming debate inside the Democratic Party - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/13/2015

New Leader Turns British Labour Party to the Left

New York Times 09/14/2015

Incomes and Poverty, 2014

Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015

Not There Yet on Equal Opportunity

Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015

America’s white working class is a dying breed - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

The missing working class - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

Workers in U.S. manufacturing plants in 2015- global competition, U.S. competitiveness and downward pressure on wages

03/24/2015

Workers who were once in the middle class are now lower class as conditions have changed in the automobile and other U.S. manufacturing plants. As more jobs are created in manufacturing than in IT related industries, this is a significant factor in improving U.S. employment and wages. There is an 86% increase in imports of parts from Mexico since 2008, over double for China.

Grouped Articles

U.S. Car-Making Boom? Not for Auto-Industry Workers

Wall Street Journal 03/24/2015

U.S. Trade Gap Widens on Surging Imports

Wall Street Journal 05/06/2015

Dollar’s Rise Lifts Imports and Widens Trade Gap

New York Times 05/05/2015

Mexican Auto Production Sets Record in April

Wall Street Journal 05/07/2015

U.A.W. Contract With Fiat Chrysler Would Give 2nd-Tier Workers Big Raise

New York Times 09/18/2015

A stunning stat about pay seems impossible but actually is true - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/22/2015

Increasing disparity in incomes, higher inequality and the middle class.

01/03/2010

The situation in the US, Germany, Britain, China, India, Brazil and other countries.

Grouped Articles

Survey in China Shows a Wide Gap in Income

New York Times 07/19/2013

Rich Man’s Recovery

New York Times 09/12/2013

German elections pit Merkel, challenger over poverty problems - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/17/2013

America’s Sinking Middle Class

New York Times 09/18/2013

Europe's Easy-Money Policy Snubs German Savers

Wall Street Journal 11/25/2013

Germany's Social Democrats Agree to Coalition Talks With Merkel

Wall Street Journal 10/21/2013

A disappearing U.S. middle class in 2012-2015

01/20/2010

Meyerson, Ignatius and others ask the tough questions about America and the prospects for a future with a disappearing middle class, pointing to the need to structure globalization and build cooperation between workers, management and the government in new constructive ways.

Grouped Articles

America’s Sinking Middle Class

New York Times 09/18/2013

State of the Union: Obama Seeks to Narrow Income Gap

Wall Street Journal 01/29/2014

More Men in Prime Working Ages Don't Have Jobs

Wall Street Journal 02/06/2014

The White Underclass

New York Times 02/08/2012

Falling Wages at Factories Squeeze the Middle Class

New York Times 11/20/2014

Why wage growth disparity tells the story of America's half-formed economic recovery - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/22/2014

Faces of low and middle income families in the U.S. middle class 2013-2015- the effects of a surge in income volatility since the 2008 recession

12/03/2014

Grouped Articles

Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind on Bills

New York Times 12/03/2014

Hiring Booms, but Soft Wages Linger

Wall Street Journal 01/10/2015

In State of the Union, Obama Makes Middle-Class Pitch

Wall Street Journal 01/21/2015

Incomes and Poverty, 2014

Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015

Not There Yet on Equal Opportunity

Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015

Pieces of Silver

The New York Times 08/12/2016

Reviving the use of the term "working class" in America as opposed to middle class- why this is important

11/12/2015

Cherlin, a professor at John Hopkins University, who has written about the decline of the working class family, once portrayed in television shows such as "All in the Family," says the term was seen as derogatory and avoided in recent times. Archie Bunker in that show was seen as bigoted and behind the times. He points out that Obama in his speeches has used middle class frequently but rarely used the term "working class." Yet he points out the Americans with a diploma at most but no bachelors degree, comprise 54 percent of the American people, and are quite different in lifestyle and educational opportunities than the middle class better educated Americans. They also face a different set of problems and obstacles to upward mobility and social mobility. It is right to revive the use of the term "working class" says Cherlin, so that one can wrap ones hands around the problem facing so many Americans. A combination of forces have trampled the future prospects of these Americans, many arising out of forces beyond the control of policy such as automation and global manufacturing, and some such as the problems created by the 2008 financial crisis which were the result of bad decisions by business have only worsened the situation.

Grouped Articles

The missing working class - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise

Wall Street Journal 12/16/2015

It’s the American Dream, Stupid

Wall Street Journal 01/10/2016

Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views

WSJ 07/28/2016

Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored

The New York Times 08/03/2016

Pieces of Silver

The New York Times 08/12/2016


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