Rakesh Kochhar is a senior researcher at Pew Research Center. He is an expert on trends in employment, income and wealth. His research has focused on the American and global middle classes and the economic well-being of white, black, Hispanic, Asian and immigrant workers. Prior to joining Pew Research Center, he was senior economist at Joel Popkin and Company, where he served as a consultant to government agencies, private firms, international agencies and labor unions. Kochhar received his doctorate in economics from Brown University. He has appeared on numerous media outlets, including NPR, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. He has testified before Congress and regularly speaks at professional, academic and business conferences.
The first decade of this century witnessed an historic reduction in global poverty and a near doubling of the number of people who could be considered middle income. But the emergence of a truly global middle class is still far from fruition.
The share of Americans who live in middle-income households has held steady since 2010 – a flat trend that might actually be good news.
The gap between America’s upper-income and middle-income families has reached its highest level on record. In 2013, the median wealth of the nation’s upper-income families ($639,400) was nearly seven times the median wealth of middle-income families ($96,500).
The median wealth of white households was 13 times the wealth of black households and 10 times that of Hispanic households in 2013, compared with eight and nine times, respectively, in 2010.
The earnings gap in the nation’s workforce has widened in recent years as the pay of high-wage workers has risen and the pay of low-wage workers has fallen, but Hispanics may be feeling the impact more acutely than others.
Only about one-in-four Americans say the growing number of older people is a major problem for the country.
While women have narrowed their pay gap with men over the past 30 years, many have also seen their progress slow, and even reverse, over the course of their careers.
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