On May 8th, Brookings officially launched a new initiative on the Future of the Middle Class. Through this initiative, we will publish research, analysis, and insights that are motivated by a desire to improve the quality of life for those in America’s middle class and to improve upward mobility into its ranks. We have already wrestled with how we define this group, considered its changing racial composition, and called upon experts to outline major policies geared toward improving its fate. But why all of this attention? Here are seven of the reasons we are worried about the American middle class.

  1. Middle-class incomes are stagnant 
  2. Employment and wages are declining 
  3. Middle-class children's prospects are declining 
  4. Destinies are diverging, especially by race
  5. Place matters more than ever 
  6. A sense of well-being has eroded 
  7. Middle-class families are more fragile and more dependent on two incomes

Read the full article about middle class by Eleanor Krause and Isabel V. Sawhill at Brookings.