Wage Wars

THE proposition that income inequality is a problem, and a growing one, has become a staple of the Left. Assertions of a “widening gap between rich and poor Americans” and a “disappearing middle class” appear daily in the nation’s newspapers. Statistics have been manipulated shamelessly to make this claim appear plausible. In particular, many commentators have argued that, since 1970, the percentage of American families in the “middle class”—defined as those with incomes between $15,000 and $50,000—has declined.

There is a kernel of truth in this contention. The percentage of families in the arbitrarily defined “middle class” did decline between 1970 and 1990, from about 63 per cent of all families to about 55 per cent. But this was because the middle class has become more prosperous: all of the net statistical “decline” of the middle class was caused by its members moving up into the next income category (over $50,000, in constant 1990 dollars). That category grew from 24 per cent of the population in 1970 to 32 per cent in 1990.

JH

About the Author

John H. Hinderaker

John H. Hinderaker is a co-founder of Power Line and the president of the Center of the American Experiment.

SW

About the Author

Scott W. Johnson

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THE proposition that income inequality is a problem, and a growing one, has become a staple of the Left. Assertions of a “widening gap between rich and poor Americans” and a “disappearing middle class” appear daily in the nation’s newspapers. Statistics have been manipulated shamelessly to make this claim appear plausible. In particular, many commentators have argued that, since 1970, the percentage of American families in the “middle class”—defined as those with incomes between $15,000 and $50,000—has declined.

There is a kernel of truth in this contention. The percentage of families in the arbitrarily defined “middle class” did decline between 1970 and 1990, from about 63 per cent of all families to about 55 per cent. But this was because the middle class has become more prosperous: all of the net statistical “decline” of the middle class was caused by its members moving up into the next income category (over $50,000, in constant 1990 dollars). That category grew from 24 per cent of the population in 1970 to 32 per cent in 1990.