The Underpaid Middle Class

Middle class families are struggling financially and we can no longer blame the economy. So what is the answer? Why are middle class Americans worse off than ever before?



The elephant in the room is that the average middle class American's salary has not increased porportionally with their expenses. Two of the most glaring expenses that have exploded over just the past five years are gasoline and home prices. The price for gas has tripled and the price for homes has doubled in many markets across the U.S.

Although these two price increases draw the media's attention, it is important to understand all the factors working against middle class America. For instance, the increase in gas prices is felt other places than the pump. The price of groceries, clothing, and virtually any other item that is shipped goes up as well. Another, less heralded, price increase has been in the entertainment industry. Now it is impossible to take the family to a theme park or even a movie without feeling a hit in your wallet.

Two questions come to mind:

1. How can corporations be posting record profits, while their employees are pinching pennies?
   
   
2. How are the corporations making their profits if nobody has money to spend?

The answer is simple: the corporations are taking home 40-60% profit increases by not paying its workforce what it's worth. When was the last time you received a 40% increase in salary? Never? Well, when was the last time the CEO of your company received one?

The end of the industrial age and the dawn of the information age has brought in a new paradigm where almost every CEO will tell you that their company's most valuable asset is the employees. Gone are the days when an employee can be fired and replaced by noon. The middle class workforce is no longer comprised of button-pushers or assembly line workers. Instead, middle class America is populated by educated, hard-working individuals who take their work and careers very seriously.

Unfortunately, the CEOs and boardmembers are the only ones who have realized what their workforce is worth. Perhaps even more unfortunate, they are not motivated to do anything about it because their allegiance lies not with the employees, but with the shareholders. Until the middle class decides that it is time to ask for a raise, nothing is going to change.