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Podcasts Take Two
Where has LA's middle-class gone?
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Dec 11, 2015
Listen • 8:01
Where has LA's middle-class gone?
The middle-class is now outnumbered by those who earn more and those who earn less.
A suburban tract home for sale in the predominantly Latino middle class enclave of north Downey, Calif., September 2010. The National Association of Realtors Monday says its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales dropped 4.3 percent to 101.7 in December. That's still 6.9 percent higher than it was a year ago. The decline signals that sales of previously occupied homes may drop in the coming months. There's generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.
A suburban tract home for sale in the predominantly Latino middle class enclave of north Downey, Calif., September 2010.
(
Leslie Berestein Rojas/KPCC
)

The middle-class is now outnumbered by those who earn more and those who earn less.

The middle class is falling behind, ​according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, 

For more than four decades, this income bracket held a comfortable majority. But now, they're outnumbered by those who earn more and those who earn less.

Researchers say this could signal a tipping point.

To help us understand what that tipping point might be and what these findings mean for those of us living in Southern California, Take Two talks with Chris Thornberg of Beacon Economics.