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April 5, 2013 1:36 pm
The middle classes in the developing world’s labour market have more than doubled in size in the past decade. The proportion of people in the workforce defined as middle class – those living on $4 or more a day – leapt from 23% in 2001 to 42% in 2011, and the proportion is expected to reach more than half the developing world’s workforce by 2017.
But behind that rising class, the proportion defined as ‘near poor’ – living on between $2 and $4 a day – has crept up, from 24% in 2001 to more than 25% in 2011. Almost all that growth has come from outside east Asia, in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, southeast Asia and south Asia.
In east Asia – dominated by China – the proportion of the workforce defined as extremely poor – living on less than $1.25 a day – has fallen from 29% to 6% in the same period.
Click on the dates to see the proportions change, and roll over the grid to see the values for each social class
Definitions
Middle class and above: living on more than US$13 per day
Emerging middle class: living on between US$4 and US$13 per day
Near poor: living on between US$2 and US$4 per day
Moderately poor: living on between US$1.25 and US$2 per day
Extremely poor: living on less than US $1.25 per day
Source: International Labour Organization: Global Employment Trends 2013
Table A15a page 145
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