The American middle class has been shrinking for the last four decades, and middle-income households no longer make up the majority, according to a new study blaming the Great Recession.

"The hollowing of the middle has proceeded steadily for the past four decades,"a report by the Pew Research Center noted.
In early 2015, 120.8 million American adults ‒ or 50 percent ‒ were in middle-income households, compared with 121.3 million in lower- and upper-income households combined, the study found. That’s down from 61 percent in 1971.