America’s working class barely scrapes by. An outdated image of them doesn’t help – Fortune
“In the wake of the 2024 election, pundits and politicos have had much to say about the battle for the American ‘working class,’ with their commentary—whether from the left, the right, or the middle—invariably accompanied by the same image: guys wearing hard hats, toiling away at a construction site or on an assembly line… Both political parties have stressed their commitment to reviving U.S. manufacturing and resuscitating parts of the country that were once defined by good factory jobs but have come over many years to feel hopelessly left behind.
“But this picture is, in fact, misleading. Two-thirds of those without a four-year college degree—the criterion that many demographers use to define the “working class”—are employed in services (including health care, retail, and hospitality), compared with one-third in manufacturing, construction, and related industries. Their needs are distinct, and they remain largely unmet.”