Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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A Pew Research Center analysis of income data from 11 Western European countries finds considerable differences in the fortunes of the middle classes in those countries. See where you fall on your country’s income ladder.
The fortunes of the middle classes across Western Europe are moving in different directions. Some nations are experiencing both growing incomes and expanding middle classes, while other nations are witness to stagnant or declining incomes and shrinking middle classes, a new Pew Research Center analysis of 11 Western European countries has found. But in a few other countries studied, the middle-class shares are decreasing even as incomes overall are rising.
From 1991 to 2010, the middle class expands in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but, as in the United States, shrinks in Germany, Italy and Spain
The most frequently cited reason for not taking family or medical leave when one needs or wants to is concern over loss of wages or salary.
Many Americans support paid family and medical leave, and most supporters say employers should cover the costs.
Over the past 40 years, blacks have made progress on several fronts. Yet large racial gaps persist in areas such as wealth and poverty.
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the public has starkly different expectations about which groups in society will gain influence – and those that will lose influence – under his administration.
Black and Hispanic mortgage applicants are denied more frequently than whites and Asians, and when they do obtain mortgages they tend to pay higher rates.
Pew Research Center President Michael Dimock examines the changes – some profound, some subtle – that the U.S. experienced during Barack Obama’s presidency.
While the idea of raising the minimum wage is broadly popular, efforts to do so at the national level have stalled. We gathered key facts looking at the issue.
