How to define the 'middle class'?
How to define the 'middle class '?
BY LI KUI-WAI
Published: Mar 15 2013 8:50 Email | Print | Share
Text Size The definition of “middle class” has been debated recently in Hong Kong. One simplistic definition would be to take the median or average income and those who received the middle” level of income are the “middle class”. Such a definition is easy to understand in mathematical terms, but is naive and has a number of drawbacks. Firstly, how close the income level to the “middle” would be included as the “middle class”? Would 10% below and above the average or “middle” income be regarded? The problem is to draw the dividing line. Secondly, people’s income changes over time, or drops in an economic downturn. How do the economic movements be included in the measurement of the “middle class”?
Every working individual receives an income or some form of earning. Some spend the whole day but earns little, while others can sit at home and earn through property speculation. A proper definition of the “middle class” should not be restricted to the amount of income they earn, but the ability to earn. A “middle class” individual is someone whose earning comes from the potential skill or knowledge the person possesses in the market economy. For a knowledge individual, either having a university degree, a professional skill or some special knowledge which would entitle the person to have a “lifelong” ability to earn a living is a better definition of the “middle class”. The lifelong earnings of such an individual differ, depending on the marketability of the person’s knowledge or skill endowment. Thus, a young university degree holder joining the civil service earns a lower salary than another person with a similar university degree but is more experienced in the civil service. Both individuals belong to the “middle class”. Similarly, a nurse earns less than a medical doctor, but both belong to the “middle class”.
By contrast, a “lower class” individual will
BY LI KUI-WAI
Published: Mar 15 2013 8:50 Email | Print | Share
Text Size The definition of “middle class” has been debated recently in Hong Kong. One simplistic definition would be to take the median or average income and those who received the middle” level of income are the “middle class”. Such a definition is easy to understand in mathematical terms, but is naive and has a number of drawbacks. Firstly, how close the income level to the “middle” would be included as the “middle class”? Would 10% below and above the average or “middle” income be regarded? The problem is to draw the dividing line. Secondly, people’s income changes over time, or drops in an economic downturn. How do the economic movements be included in the measurement of the “middle class”?
Every working individual receives an income or some form of earning. Some spend the whole day but earns little, while others can sit at home and earn through property speculation. A proper definition of the “middle class” should not be restricted to the amount of income they earn, but the ability to earn. A “middle class” individual is someone whose earning comes from the potential skill or knowledge the person possesses in the market economy. For a knowledge individual, either having a university degree, a professional skill or some special knowledge which would entitle the person to have a “lifelong” ability to earn a living is a better definition of the “middle class”. The lifelong earnings of such an individual differ, depending on the marketability of the person’s knowledge or skill endowment. Thus, a young university degree holder joining the civil service earns a lower salary than another person with a similar university degree but is more experienced in the civil service. Both individuals belong to the “middle class”. Similarly, a nurse earns less than a medical doctor, but both belong to the “middle class”.
By contrast, a “lower class” individual will