2014年，1%最高收入群體在美國財富中占的比重略低于11%。然而，華盛頓智囊機構Urban Institute學者史蒂芬?羅斯的研究表明，上層中產階級目前控制著美國約52.1%的收入。

羅斯寫道：“所有局限于這1%群體的貧富差距論述都漏掉了很大一部分真相，因為它們都沒有注意到不斷壯大的中上階級與中產及中下階級之間的顯著差距。”

羅斯指出，對美國社會的相互敵視以及由收入不均引發的權力剝奪現象都源于這個不斷擴大的差距，而不是上層社會和中下階級的分裂。同時，這個差距還造成了伯尼?桑德斯和唐納德?特朗普等政治局外人在本屆大選中的崛起。

羅斯寫道：“中產階級和中上階級的互動較多，和巨富階層的互動較少。在那個1%群體中，位居前十分之一的人收入增幅巨大，但和由此帶來的貧富差距感受相比，中產階級也許會更強烈地感覺到自己在中上階級面前節節敗退。”

羅斯的報告對中上階級的定義是2014年年收入介于100000-349999美元之間的三口之家。美國國稅局的最新數據則顯示，那個1%最富有群體在2013年的收入則至少有428713美元。

35年來，中上階級的規模擴大了一倍以上，在美國人口中的比重從1979年的12.9%升至2014年的29.4%，成為僅次于中產階級的第二大群體。中產階級占美國人口的32%，擁有25.8%的財富。

“這個差異有一個實實在在的體現，那就是在大多數大城市里，各個街區或社區的住宅面積和價格差距極大。我們想辦法制止種族或族群隔離，但收入造成的隔離（而且程度越發嚴重）卻作為一種生活現實為人們所接受。”

作為該報告的作者，羅斯還談到了另外一個引人注意的現象。那就是在1979-2014年，其他收入群體的工資普遍上漲，而收入最低的那5%美國人在此期間的工資卻下降了12%。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：詹妮

IWhile the top 1% claimed just under 11% of the U.S.’s riches in 2014, the upper middle class now controls about 52.1% of America’s income, according to a study by Stephen Rose the Urban Institute.

“Any discussion of inequality that is limited to the 1% misses a lot of the picture because it ignores the large inequality between the growing upper middle class and the middle and lower middle classes,” Rose wrote.

It’s that growing difference rather than the schism between the upper class and lower middle class that is the source of hostility and disenfranchisement regarding U.S. income inequality. It is also this divide that has led to the rise of political outsiders such as Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in this election cycle, Rose noted.

“People in the middle class interact more with the upper middle class than they do with the very rich, and they may have stronger feelings of losing ground to the upper middle class versus their feelings about the inequality due to the huge income increases of those in the top one-tenth of 1% of the income ladder,” Rose wrote.

The upper middle class, according to the paper, is defined as a family of three earning between $100,000 to $349,999 annually in 2014. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Services, the top 1% earned at least $428,713 in 2013.

This group of upper middle class households has more than doubled in size over the past 35 years, from 12.9% in 1979, to 29.4% in 2014—the second largest demographic behind the middle class, which accounts for 32% of the population and controls 25.8% of the wealth.

“This difference has a physical dimension, in that most metropolitan areas differ greatly by the size and price of the homes in their neighborhoods and communities. We try to limit segregation by race or ethnicity, but segregation by income (which is growing) is accepted as a fact of life.”

Rose, the author of the report, also noted one more interesting trend. While all other income levels experienced a pay raise between 1979 and 2014, the bottom 5% of earners actually saw their income fall by 12% in the same period.