While the American middle class is still optimistic about getting ahead, they have become increasingly fearful that they may fall behind, according to poll results by The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) and National Journal.
The 16th quarterly Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll focuses on the American middle class and seeks to uncover important insights about how this cornerstone economic group perceives the future. The poll asks Americans to define what it means to be part of the middle class, based on income, financial security, education and lifestyle. Unsurprisingly, many Americans (46 percent) identify as middle class and almost all Americans (85 percent) consider themselves a part of an expanded definition of being middle class that includes upper middle class (12 percent), and lower middle class (26 percent).
The most recent Heartland Monitor Poll also identifies renewed concern about the country’s recovery and an increase in skepticism toward major political and business institutions. Specifically, the mood of the country has worsened with only 29 percent of respondents believing the U.S. is headed in the “right direction,” a considerable decline from a three-year high of 41 percent recorded in November 2012. Democrats’ optimism has decreased by 23 points to 54 percent in the most recent data, while just 32 percent of the middle class feel the country is headed in the right direction.
“Over the last four years, Americans’ views in this poll have been consistently right about the economy. Today, they are sounding the alarm bell that the economy is not on track for sustainable growth. More affordable college education, job creation and stability are seen as key priorities,” said Thomas J. Wilson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Allstate. “The blame is spread wide and far, from politicians to business leaders. Americans are crying out for leaders to work together to create a path to economic prosperity. We should listen and act now.”
Heartland Monitor XVI reveals that public opinion is narrowly balanced between hopes of economic improvement and fears about falling behind. Nearly three-in-five middle class Americans (59 percent) say they are concerned about falling out of their economic class. The attributes Americans have historically seen as safeguards for middle class families such as educational attainment and responsible financial planning are now considered by many to be unrealistic or only attainable by the upper class. At the same time, Americans remain optimistic about the potential to move up the economic ladder at some point in the future; this is especially true among Millennials, African Americans and Hispanics, whom view economic opportunity as being on the horizon.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor
Suggested Reading
The American Dream – Economic Mobility Across Generations – There is stickiness at the ends of the wealth ladder
Pursuing the American Dream uses the most current available data to measure mobility by family income and wealth, and personal earnings to reveal how closely tied a person’s place on the economic ladder is to that of his or her parents’. Some of the highlights of the research include: Eighty-four percent of Americans have higher … Continue reading »
U.S. Taxes Rates | Wealthiest pay 40% less than 50 years ago while middle class pay roughly the same
Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney of The Hamilton Project – Brookings Institute examine the progressivity of the U.S. tax code and highlight two facts: the current U.S. tax system is less progressive than the tax systems of other industrialized countries, and considerably less progressive today than it was just a few decades ago. The figure below shows how much …Continue reading »
Middle class is getting left behind U.S. jobs recovery
Americans at the top and bottom of the income scale are benefiting most from the jobs recovery while those in the middle are getting left behind. Employees making above-average wages, like doctors and energy-industry workers, and those at the other extreme, including home-health aides and restaurant staff, have seen outsized gains in hiring since the … Continue reading »
US Jobs Recovery / Middle-aged women doing particularly poorly
SINCE the job market in the United States hit bottom more than three years ago, men have benefited from the recovery far more than woman have, with middle-aged women doing particularly poorly. From December 2009 through last month, the economy added 5.3 million jobs, according to the Labor Department’s monthly survey of households. Only 30 … Continue reading »
US / The Middle Class Retirement Crisis
Retirement security for those currently or recently in the middle class is no sure thing. 49% of the private work force has neither defined benefit (traditional pensions) or defined contribution (401(k)) retirement plans, while public sector pensions are coming under increasing attack. The United States has the highest elder poverty rate, 25% (measured as 50% … Continue reading »
US – Offshoring and middle-income workers
New evidence on the relationship between offshoring and polarisation In a new working paper, Lindsay Oldenski documents an empirical link between offshoring and the polarisation of the US labour market (Oldenski 2012). This study, which will be presented in November at both the Empirical Investigations in International Trade conference in Santa Cruz and the US Department of … Continue reading »
Moving On Up: How Tuition Tax Breaks Increasingly Favor the Upper-Middle Class | Education Sector.
During the last several years, Congress and the Obama administration have made significant cuts to federal student aid funding to shore up the budget of the Pell Grant program, the primary source of government aid to low-income students. But in a new Education Sector Chart You Can Trust, Stephen Burd argues that the federal government … Continue reading »
Job Market Monitor 
Discussion
No comments yet.