The new middle consists of people with about a third of their income left for discretionary spending after providing basic food and shelter.

新一代中产阶级的标准是，每月除了满足吃住等基本生活要求外，有1/3的收入可供自行支配。

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"This means as government working with our social partners, we must strive to improve the quality of life of all our people by providing shelter, basic amenities, education and security."

VOA: standard.2010.03.21

Diana Farrell, who is now a member of America's National Economic Council but until recently worked for McKinsey, a consultancy that has spent a lot of time studying the middle classes, reckons they begin at roughly the point where people have a third of their income left for discretionary spending after providing for basic food and shelter.

ECONOMIST: Burgeoning bourgeoisie | The

They said that as humanitarian organisations, they had been doing all they could to help those affected by the fighting by providing shelter, food and other basic necessities, "but it has not nearly been enough".

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But neither do we want an economy that goes backward, back to a time when a larger share of people are employed in providing the established basic services, especially food, shelter and energy.

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