A new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) by Richard Freeman, Eunice Han, Brendan V. Duke, and David Madland laments what they term the “hollowing out” of the middle class. The authors seek to make “America a middle-class country once again” by means of increasing union coverage.
Regarding the central assumption of the report, the claim that the middle class is getting hollowed out, is an exaggeration. As CAP admits, “about three-quarters of the reduction [in the middle class] resulted from a rising share of high-wage workers.” Between 1969 and 2007, the household income of the median adult rose by 52 percent. This increase was seen across the income distribution — even the income of those at the 25th percentile of the income distribution grew by 40 percent from 1969 to 2007.
The relevant issue is how well the middle class is doing overall. And the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that Americans are doing much better than they were in the past.
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This piece originally appeared in National Review Online