While the size of the U.S. middle class remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2016, financial gains for middle-income Americans were modest compared with those of higher-income households.
Ahead of the Senate’s deliberations over Kavanaugh, here’s a look at where the public stands on some of the major legal, political and social issues that could come before the Supreme Court in the years ahead.
Most Americans like labor unions, at least in the abstract. A majority (55%) holds a favorable view of unions, versus 33% who hold an unfavorable view, according to a Pew Research Center survey from earlier this year. Despite those fairly benign views, unionization rates in the United States have dwindled in recent decades. As of 2017, just 10.7% of all wage and salary workers were union members, matching the record low set in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Overall, 38% of Americans have a favorable opinion of China, down slightly from 44% in 2017. Concerns about China include economic threats, cyberattacks, environmental damage and human rights.
Despite some ups and downs over the past several decades, today's real average wage in the U.S. has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And most of what wage gains there have been have flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.
Special to the Washington Post Former British prime minister Harold Macmillan once trenchantly observed that: “Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.” The announcement on July 25 by President Trump and European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker that the United States and the European Union would work together to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers was a tacit acknowledgment of […]
A record 276,500 foreign graduates received work permits under the Optional Practical Training program in the U.S. in 2017, up from 257,100 in 2016.
At the same time, 73% of people in the United Kingdom say they would like to see some powers currently held by the EU returned to national governments. A majority say membership in the EU has been a good thing for their nation's economy.
Generation Xers were hit particularly hard in the recession. Yet Gen Xers are the only generation of households to recover the wealth they lost in the downturn.
Newspaper layoffs have far from abated in the past year, and digital-native news outlets are also suffering losses. At least 36% of the largest U.S. newspapers and at least 23% of the highest-traffic digital-native news outlets experienced layoffs between January 2017 and April 2018.
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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
