Good News, Bad News

Fewer Americans are middle class than formerly, but more are upper-middle or upper, and about the same percentage are lower or sub-middle class. As this MarketWatch article shows, opinions about this vary - some are alarmed, some are enthused, it's a glass half empty or half full thing. The most interesting factoid cited:

The share of U.S. households making $100,000 or more has more than tripled between 1967 and 2017, from 8% to 26%, according to U.S. Census data, while the percentage of middle income ($35,000 to $100,000 a year) has fallen.

Imagine a quarter of our households making over $100K a year! I'm old enough to find that amazing. Which means I'm also old enough to think $100K a significant amount of money - not a fortune, but not insignificant either.

I betcha (intentional Palin-esque usage) those who moved from middle to upper-middle income are happy about their good fortune. I'd be a lot more concerned if lots more of the middle were moving down than moving up, which appears not to be the case.

What seems to be the case is there are fewer blue collar members of the middle class than previously. This is a result of fewer manufacturing jobs, plus competition from illegal immigrants forcing down wages.