http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080409/middle_class_poll.html
Economy, Debt Weighing on Middle Class
Wednesday April 9, 6:10 pm ET
By Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer
Study: Middle-Class Americans Increasingly Downbeat About Their Short-
Term Economic Progress
WA****NGTON (AP) -- More and more middle-class Americans say they
aren't better off than they were five years ago, reflecting economic
pressures amid growing personal debt, a study released Wednesday
found.
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Their short-term *****sment of personal progress, according to the
study, is the worst it's been in nearly half a century.
The survey by the Pew Research Center, a Wa****ngton-based
organization, paints a mixed picture for the 53 percent of adults in
the country who define themselves as "middle class," with household
incomes ranging from below $40,000 to more than $100,000.
It found that a majority of all Americans said they haven't progressed
in the last five years. One in four, or 25 percent, said their
economic situation had not improved, while 31 percent said they had
fallen backward. Those numbers together are the highest since the
survey question was first asked in 1964. Among the middle class, 54
percent said they had made no progress (26 percent) or fallen back (28
percent).
Asked about their financial experiences in the past year, 53 percent
of middle-class people said they had to cut spending because money was
tight. Nearly one in five, or 18 percent, said they had trouble
getting or paying for medical care, while 10 percent re****ted they had
been laid off or otherwise lost their jobs.
Looking ahead to the coming year, half of the middle class surveyed
said they expected to have to cut more spending. Among those employed,
one in four, or 25 percent, expressed worries that they would be laid
off, that their job would be outsourced or that their employer would
relocate in the coming year, while 26 percent were concerned that they
would see cuts in salary or health benefits.
Middle-class prosperity overall also lagged compared with richer
Americans. From 1983 to 2004, the median net worth of upper-income
families -- defined as households with annual incomes above 150
percent of the median -- grew by 123 percent, while the median net
worth of middle-income families rose by just 29 percent.
At the same time, most middle-class people remained upbeat when asked
to measure their progress over a longer timeframe, although their
level of optimism lagged behind their richer counterparts. Two-thirds,
or 67 percent, of middle-class Americans say their standard of living
is better than the one their parents enjoyed at the age they are now.
In contrast, 80 percent of richer people said they exceeded their
parents' standard of living. Among the lower class, only 49 percent
re****ted better conditions.
"It's been a lousy run for the American economy and people feel it,"
said Paul Taylor, director of Pew's Social & Demographic Trends
project and lead author of the study. He noted that people's pessimism
largely tracks annual median household income, which has seen little
gain in recent years. Middle-class people also may be
dispro****tionately feeling the pinch because they tend to borrow more
heavily against their homes to sup****t their lifestyles, Taylor said.
"Still, over a span of a generation, it's been a pretty good run, even
as there are some recent pressures that I think people are feeling,"
he said.
The Pew poll involved telephone interviews with 2,413 adults,
conducted from Jan. 24 to Feb. 19. The margin of sampling error was
2.5 percentage points.
Among the other findings:
--Nearly eight in 10 of all people, or 79 percent, said they believe
it has become more difficult compared with five years ago for the
middle class to maintain their standard of living, up from 65 percent
in 1986.
--Among the middle class, no consensus existed on who was to blame for
their economic problems. Twenty-six percent blamed the government, 15
percent faulted the price of oil and 11 percent said the people
themselves were responsible. Others faulted foreign competition and
private cor****ations for economic woes.
--Politically, 58 percent of middle-class Americans said they believed
the GOP favors the rich, while nearly two-thirds say the Democratic
Party favors the middle class (39 percent) or the poor (26 percent).
--Some demographic groups have improved their income status between
1970 and 2006, while others saw declines. Among the winners were
seniors ages 65 and older, blacks, native-born Hispanics and married
adults. Losers included young adults (ages 18 to 29), the unmarried,
foreign-born Hispanics and people with a high-school education or
less.
Pew Research Center: http://pewsocialtrends.org/
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