Middle Class Lifeboat Blog

                            
  Middle-Class Concerns Rise
  by Sarah Anne Edwards, PhD
  co-author, Middle-Class Lifeboat

  The latest opinion polls suggest that we in the  
  middle class are getting ever more concerned. A
  recent national Pew Research Center survey 
  Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good
  Life, reports that 80% of the population who define themselves as middle class now believes it’s harder for them to maintain their lifestyle. One in for feel stuck (25%). One in three perceive themselves as slipping backwards financially.

Nearly half are tightening their belts and about the same number expect to make more cutbacks in the year ahead. That’s more than twice the number in 1983.

They worry about losing their jobs if they one have and whether they will be able to make their next mortgage payment.  Half of families have a debt load exceeding their annual income and credit is tighting fast. Even seven out of ten in the upper class feel things are getting worse!

But the Pew poll says we’re still optimistic. Most are confident their quality of life will be better in five years  and they expect their children’s lives will be better yet. But should we be?

Will the economy get better soon or will our economic circumstances become even more strained in years to come? (more…)