Since the income gap between middle-class and wealthy families in the United States has grown by more than 50 percent since 1985, middle-class parents are increasingly relying on government-provided health and education programs to support their children, according to a new study by the Foundation for Child Development.
The FCD report finds that even prior to the recession that began in 2007, the gap in real family income separating a middle-class family -- one with an annual income between $22,758 and $110,000 -- from a high-income one expanded from $59,800 in 1985 to $93,100 by 2008. Between 2000 and 2008, middle-class families experienced a drop in real family income of more than $4,000, compared to a dip of just $139 for the top 20 percent of earners.
The FCD report finds that even prior to the recession that began in 2007, the gap in real family income separating a middle-class family -- one with an annual income between $22,758 and $110,000 -- from a high-income one expanded from $59,800 in 1985 to $93,100 by 2008. Between 2000 and 2008, middle-class families experienced a drop in real family income of more than $4,000, compared to a dip of just $139 for the top 20 percent of earners.
Despite a decrease in the median family income and a rise in the proportion of single-parent households and childhood obesity among middle-class families, health insurance coverage and prekindergarten enrollment have steadily risen in that demographic, suggesting that public health and education initiatives have played an increasingly important role in the welfare of middle-class children.
Donald Hernandez, senior adviser to the Foundation for Child Development and author of the report, said his findings show that middle class is clearly not what it used to be.
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