Page 72 - Ekonomija i Biznis_May 2016.indd

WORLD

middle class reduced in USA from 52.4% will need vast amounts of food, consumer
to 50.6%, and in France is reduced from goods, houses and a wide spectrum of ser-
68.9% to 67.4%. vices.

At the same time, in this period, the However, this already tangible “boom”
rich layer in USA increased the revenues is not a game where at least everyone
from 2.2 percent, while the income of wins today.
the middle class increased by 1.4%. In
France, the layer of rich people increased On one hand, there is an increasingly
the revenue from 0.5% compared to the growing homogenous supranational busi-
middle class whose revenues increased ness class. It is increasingly “detached”
to 0.9 percent. In these two societies this from its national states, and the needs
created a completely different image of and the sufferings of the domicile citizens
inequality. According to the OECD data, are increasingly alienated. Simply speak-
in 2012 in USA the Gini coefficient was ing, to businesses (or at least to the ones
0.487, and in France it is 0.343, where 0 that deal with tradable goods and servic-
denotes full equality, and 1 is full inequal- es), the fall of the domicile middle class is
ity. unpleasant, however it is not too impor-
tant, because the business opportunities
To the business world, the buyers from are open on another side, which promises
the developed West, at least with a de- continuity in the growth of income. Their
clining middle class, are still an impor- interest to join the local governments
tant market, and this is witnessed by the primarily originates from the domain of
increasingly frequent decision, primarily,
of the manufacturers of consumer goods
to approximate their plants to the most
demanding customer, whereby the auto-
mation provides them to return home, or
due to the offer of low paid, and trained
workforce, they station them in the less
developed countries of Southeast Europe.

Still, the middle class in the developing
countries, whose revenues are calculated
in low dollar amounts, in the past years
rightfully becomes a subject of increased
interest. Euromonitor International, in
the 2015 report recommends to its cli-
ents, primarily, to research the markets
of China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and
the Philippines, which will have increas-
ingly larger and richer middle class with
an approximate income of 10.000 dollars
per household in 2030.

To business people, such a combina-
tion of events brings only good news. The
new class, for which it is estimated that
in general it will reach approximately 1.8
billion people (with income of the men-
tioned 10 to 100 dollars per day according
to the PPP method, which is significantly
above the measures of the World Bank
for the middle class where the initial
numbers are between 2 and 13 American
dollars, and the number of members of
the middle class is increasingly higher)

72 May 2016