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The Decline of the American Middle Class: Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys 1988–2015 (Journal of Family and Economic Issues) The size of America’s middle class is declining, and the results are robust across three different definitions (including owning a car and taking a family vacation,). Based on one of the definitions it is estimated that the middle class shrank from 51.7% in 1988 to 40.6% in 2015.
Corporate sector vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak: Assessment and policy responses (VOX EU, 10 min read) Without immediate government interventions, around 30% of European firms would have experienced liquidity shortfall after two months of lockdown. In terms of a single policy response, wage relief is found to be the more successful instrument relative to tax relief and debt moratorium policies. However, once all three measures are combined liquidity risk halves to 16%.
Corporate Hiring under COVID-19: Labor Market Concentration, Downskilling, and Income Inequality (NBER, 26-page read) ‘Big data on job-vacancy postings reveal several dimensions of the impact of COVID-19 on the US job market. Firms have cut back on postings for high-skill jobs more than for low-skill jobs, with small firms nearly halting their new hiring altogether. New-hiring cuts and downskilling are most pronounced in local labour markets lacking depth (where employment is concentrated within a few firms), in low-income areas, and in areas with greater income inequality.’