Is the Middle Class Shrinking?

Panel Examines Issue at The City Club of Cleveland

CLEVELAND: A local and a national expert will discuss the latest research on the middle class and what that means for Northeast Ohio at noon on Tuesday, November 27, 2007, at The City Club of Cleveland. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz of the Plain Dealer will serve as moderator.

A vibrant middle class is critical to our society and economic system. Many argue that the middle class helps curb poverty and minimize the income disparity between the classes. During the 1990s, fears erupted that the middle class was shrinking. Those concerns continue today as we read reports about vanishing middle class neighborhoods and diminishing incomes.

Panelists are as follows:

·         Gary Burtless, Nancy D. Whitehead chair of Economic Studies, Brookings Institution

·         Edwin W. (Ned) Hill, professor and distinguished scholar of Economic Development, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University

Gary Burtless’s publications include Globalization and Income Polarization in Rich Countries; Poverty, Work, and Policy: The United States in Comparative Perspective; and A Future of Lousy Jobs? The Changing Structure of U.S. Wages. Ned Hill, a nonresident senior fellow of the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution, edited Economic Development Quarterly from 1994 to 2005.

This program, organized by City Club New Leaders, is the final in the three-part series Engulfed: The Rising Tide of Economic Disparity sponsored by the Saint Luke’s Foundation.

Tickets are $15 for members and $25 for non-members. Lunch is included. Reservations are required at least 24 hours in advance of the event. They can be purchased by calling The City Club at 216.621.0082 or visiting the website at www.cityclub.org.