CHAPTER 2
Who Is the Working Class?
PRESUMABLY ON THE THEORY that no tree falls if no ear hears it, Americans curry
a convenient deafness when it comes to class. A central way we make class disappear is
to describe virtually everyone as “middle class.” A recent Bloomberg story quoted an
amusement park worker earning $22,000 a year and a lawyer with an annual income of
$200,000, both calling themselves middle class.^9
I still remember my shock when a close friend, a professor married to a partner in a major
D.C. law firm, referred to herself as middle class. At the time, she undoubtedly belonged
to the top 1%. And that lawyer who earns $200,000 a year? His income places him in the
top 6% of American earners.^10 The working class is wise to such people: to working-class
minds, lawyers (and doctors and bankers) aren’t middle class. They are simply rich.
Objectively, the working class has a much better claim to middle-class standing. This
becomes clearer when we seek out empirical data. In a study I coauthored with
economist Heather Boushey of the Center for Equitable Growth, we defined Americans
who are neither rich nor poor as those with household incomes above the bottom 30%
but below the top 20%; then we added families with higher incomes but no college
graduate.^11 This is the middle 53% of American families: the true middle class. As of
2015, these families had incomes ranging from $41,005 to $131,962. Their median
income was $75,144.^12 At the high end are married families of, for example, a radiation
therapist (median pay $70,010)^13 and a police officer (median pay $60,270).^14
I had a lively discussion with my editor about what to call various groups in this book. I
wanted to call the group in the middle the middle class, because, well, they are. My
editor wisely pointed out that readers would be confused by that, if “middle class” is a
term that we all use to describe ourselves regardless of whether it reflects reality. So I
agreed to call those Americans in the middle—the ones who are neither rich nor poor—
the “working class.” But as part of the deal, I got to refer to the people at the top as an
“elite.” It’s not a term many Americans are comfortable with, but if you are part of the
professional-managerial class, well, you’re an elite. Who composes this group?
Americans with household incomes in the top 20% and at least one member who is a
college graduate. The 2015 median income of such families was $173,175. Roughly
16.65% of American households fit this definition of the professional-managerial elite
(PME).^15
- Who Is the Working Class?