The Squeezed Middle : : The Pressure on Ordinary Workers in America and Britain / / ed. by Sophia Parker.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Bristol University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2013-1995
• MitwirkendeR: Alakeson, Vidhya,; Appelbaum, Eileen,; Bernstein, Jared,; Carré, Françoise,; Draut, Tamara,; Gitterman, Daniel P.,; Hacker, Jacob S.,; Heintz, James,; Kelly, Gavin,; Kenworthy, Lane,; Leana, Carrie,; Mehta, Preeti,; Mishel, Larry,; Parker, Sophia,; Riccio, James A.,; Shierholz, Heidi,; Smith-Ramani, Joanna,; Wardrip, Keith,
• HerausgeberIn: Parker, Sophia,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Policy Press, , [2013]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (184 p.)

As wages stagnate but living costs keep rising, the pressure on working people grows more intense. The issue of living standards has become one of the most urgent challenges for politicians in both Britain and America. 'The squeezed middle' brings together experts from both sides of the Atlantic to ask what the UK can learn from the US. American workers have not benefited from growth for an entire generation - the average American worker earned no more in 2009 than in 1975. Now British workers are undergoing a similar experience. No longer can they assume that when the economy grows their wages will grow with it. This collection brings together for the first time leading economic and policy thinkers to analyse the impact of different policies on those on low-to middle incomes and to explain what lessons the UK can learn from America's 'lost generation'. This timely book is essential reading for everyone concerned about the living standards crisis, an issue which could decide elections as well as shaping the future for millions of working families.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Contents -- List of tables and figures -- Notes on contributors -- Foreword -- A note on terminology -- Introduction -- Setting the scene: a rising tide no longer lifts all boats -- A lost decade, not a burst bubble: the declining living standards of middle-class households in the US and Britain -- Rising incomes and modest inequality: the high-employment route -- Policy lessons: creating quality work, raising incomes and building greater economic security -- Improving job quality in low-paid jobs: care workers in the US -- Employment change and economic vulnerability in the US -- New evidence and new directions for promoting labour market advancement for low and modest earners -- Boosting the pay packets of low- to middle-income families -- Strategies to expand the affordable private rental stock -- Insulating middle-income households from economic insecurity: why savings matter, and how we can increase them -- Looking ahead: a cautionary tale -- The path to post-recession prosperity -- How US politics is undermining the American Dream, and what it means for the UK -- Conclusion: learning the lessons -- Index