{"id":484071,"date":"2021-04-19T11:29:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T09:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=484071"},"modified":"2021-04-19T11:29:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T09:29:42","slug":"south-africas-middle-class-is-taking-a-beating-and-it-could-get-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/484071\/south-africas-middle-class-is-taking-a-beating-and-it-could-get-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s middle-class is taking a beating – and it could get worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts have warned that the Covid-19 pandemic will leave deep scars in the global economy, with middle-income families expected to shoulder the brunt of the impact.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0$26 trillion\u00a0worth of\u00a0crisis support and the arrival of vaccines have fueled a faster recovery than many anticipated, the legacies of stunted education, the destruction of jobs, war-era levels of debt and widening inequalities between races, genders, generations and geographies will leave lasting scars, most of them in the poorest nations, Bloomberg<\/a> <\/strong>reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very easy after a gruelling year or more to feel really relieved that things are back on track,\u201d said Vellore Arthi of the University of California, Irvine, who has examined the long-term health and economic hit from past crises.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a lot of the effects that we see historically are often for decades and are not easily addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

All told, the decline in gross domestic product last year was the biggest since the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

The International Labour Organisation estimates it cost the equivalent<\/a><\/strong> of 255 million people full-time jobs. Researchers at the Pew Research Centre believe the global middle class shrank for the first time since the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Economists have also warned that the recovery is likely to be uneven, with developing countries such a South Africa expected to be worse off compared to wealthier nations such as Australia, Japan, Norway, Germany and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Global decline\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Data published<\/a> <\/strong>by Pew Research in March 2021 found that the ranks of the global middle class fell by 90 million people to almost 2.5 billion last year.<\/p>\n

Middle class \u2013 those \u201cmiddle income\u201d and \u201cupper-middle income\u201d people \u2013 are defined as those earning between $10 and $50 a day.<\/p>\n