Fed’s Brainard: Middle-class wealth still less than before Great Recession

By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The wealth of middle-class families still has not recovered from the 2007 to 2009 economic crisis, with a lagging rebound in home equity and slow wage growth continuing to widen inequality through most of last year, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Friday in a snapshot of soon-to-be-released Fed data. Brainard, in a broad discussion of the middle class's economic prospects, said the Fed is increasingly concerned about the economic impact if middle-income households continue to struggle in their ability to build wealth, finance homes and educations, and even stay current with their bills. Families in the 40th to 70th percentiles held wealth of around $340,000 at the end of 2018, based on a new Fed study whose results Brainard discussed at a Fed research conference in Washington

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