middle class

Bloomberg Endorses "City of Aspiration" Report Recommendations in New Middle Class Plan

Jonathan Bowles — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:59:45 -0400

Earlier this year, the Center for an Urban Future published an extensive report about the mounting challenges New York City faces in both retaining its middle class and elevating more low income residents into the ranks of the middle class. One of our key recommendations from that report, titled Reviving the City of Aspiration, was that "city and state officials must embrace community colleges as engines of mobility and dedicate the resources necessary to strengthen these institutions and ensure that a greater number of middle class, poor and working poor New Yorkers can attend these schools and complete their degrees."

City officials are now running with our suggestion. Today, Mayor Bloomberg announced a "Gateway to the Middle Class" plan that focuses on boosting community colleges. The mayor's proposal aims to "move more New Yorkers into the middle class by increasing the number of city residents that graduate from community colleges and training them for higher wage jobs in growing industries." The plan will invest an additional $50 million over the next four years to improve the system's quality, accessibility, affordability, and accountability.

The new attention and resources for community colleges is an important step in the right direction for the city. Our report found that community colleges in New York are overshadowed by virtually every other facet of the education system and have not received the financial support needed to effectively educate students that come from a wide variety of backgrounds and often require academic remediation. Click here to read the section of our report about community colleges, titled "A Platform For Mobility."

Income Inequality on the Rise

Matthew Leiphon — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:36:44 -0400

A new report released today by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says that income inequality between the rich and poor has grown in three quarters of OECD nations over the past twenty years. The report, "Growing Unequal?", states that the gap between the rich and middle class in the United States has also grown.

According to the OECD report,

"The United States is the country with the highest inequality level and poverty rate across the OECD, Mexico and Turkey excepted. Since 2000, income inequality has increased rapidly, continuing a long-term trend that goes back to the 1970s."

As this inequality has risen, rich households "have been leaving both middle and poorer income groups behind." According to the 30 nation report, "this has happened in many countries, but nowhere has this trend been so stark as in the United States."

Commenting on the report, Business Week notes that such increases may pose a threat to "the 'American Dream' of social mobility," with the OECD report noting that social mobility "is lowest in countries with high inequality such as the United States".

Facing a potentially deep economic downturn, the middle and lower classes may be in for rough times. Economist Anthony Atkinson, interviewed by Business Week noted that while much of the growth in inequality has taken place during a time of economic expansion, "If a rising tide didn't lift all boats, how will they be affected by an ebbing tide?" As newgeography.com Executive Editor Joel Kotkin noted earlier today, the survival of the "American aspirational model" may be on the line.

Silicon Valley's Working Class Walks Tightrope

Andy Sywak — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:27:35 -0400

It may be home to Google, Cisco, Oracle and the other gleaming companies of the New Economy, but times are tough for the Silicon Valley's working class.

"Working people in Silicon Valley are walking an economic tightrope, and any unexpected medical bill or even a car breakdown can push them over the edge."

What happens to a community like this when the working class can no longer afford to live there?

250 Square Feet Condos in San Francisco

Andy Sywak — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:50:38 -0400

In this famously expensive city, one developer has a plan: Build 250 square-feet condos for singles who can then move on up. The 98 units will sell from $279,000 to $330,000.

Yes, it sounds like a glorified closet, but you have to admire Hauser Architects' sense of practicality for these Hong Kong-style apartments. The huge towers going up on Rincon Hill and South of Market are only meant for those earning well into six figures. It's refreshing that someone is actually building housing not meant for the super-wealthy. It could also serve as a harbinger of housing to come for single middle-class urban dwellers.