The middle class
Robert, a civil servant at the Ministry of Education
Hi! My name is Robert and I’m 26 years old. I have been a civil servant at the Ministry of Education for three years. I really like this work because it’s interesting and allows me to make a good living. Because I earn a good salary and I have job security, my wife, Linda, and I were able to buy a house last year. Linda is pregnant with our first child, a little boy whom we’ll name William.
Many of my co-workers are the same age as I am and they’ve followed the same path as I have. When we finished high school, college or university, many of us were able to find jobs and make our careers in the civil service. It should be noted that the government has hired a lot of people over the last few years. The number of civil servants has risen from 29 000 in 1960 to almost 60 000 in 1980.
The middle class, a new phenomenon
Robert is part of a social group that emerged during the Quiet Revolution. This group is made up of qualified people who usually have jobs that allow them to earn a good living. They are not rich, but their living conditions are much better than those of workers at the beginning of the century because they have easier access to education. They are in between the rich and the unskilled working class. This is why we say they are part of the “middle class”.
In spite of this new social group, many people are still poor. Many unskilled workers work for minimum wage which barely allows them to make ends meet, especially during hard economic times.
See also – Links:
- The Quiet Revolution (Coming soon; see French version)