Not that long ago, middle class was a place many Americans found themselves in. It was a comfortable place to be with the middle-class having college degrees, owning their own homes, and able to put away money for a rainy day. Now it seems as though the status of middle-class is disappearing right before our eyes.
My family and I fit nicely into the middle-class. We own our own home and were able yo put some money away, but somewhere over the past few years, the middle class has been running from the proverbial snowball of financial woes. My family is no exception.
As I tried to figure out how things changed so drastically in such a short period of time, I can probably pinpoint it to my husband being laid off and left struggling to find a job. As difficult as it was losing a significant portion of our family income, knowing we had his unemployment to help made it a little more bearable, that is until we found out that the Federal government is no longer giving extensions on unemployment. Our very thin safety net disappeared with only a couple weeks notice. The availability of jobs that matched my husband's previous income was few and far between. Our options were small, and panic and anxiety rising with each passing day.
According to NBC News, middle-class jobs are disappearing due to automation of jobs with routine or repetitive aspects to them. These jobs can be automated, therefore there is no need for workers. So as wonderful as technology is, it is also crushing middle-class families by taking away jobs that once supported those families in a comfortable lifestyle.
There is also the issue of outsourcing jobs to other countries.With so many companies moving overseas to places that are more cost effective, it is removing jobs from the U.S. that many middle-class families counted on to support their families. With the disappearing jobs, many Americans are being forced to take lower paying jobs just to make ends meet.
It isn't just jobs causing the decline of the middle-class. The fact that not as many high school graduates are going off to college to earn degrees. The main reason for this is a lack of finances needed to earn a degree.You can't get a good paying job without a college degree, but you cannot pay for that degree without a good paying job. It has become a nightmare merry-go-round ride that the middle-class want off of.
I am sure this is just a couple of the many reasons that have caused the fall of the middle-class, but there has to be a way of restoring the quality of life to so many Americans. Whether it be bringing jobs back to the U.S. or the middle-class tax cuts promised by President Donald Tump during his election.
My family, along with million of other American families, have gone from a place of having some disposable income, to a place of having trouble making ends meet. We are in a downwards spiral, desperately trying to claw our way back up to financial stability. Changes need to be made and need to be made quickly.
