The Middle Class in the DR

gas

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Jul 28, 2013
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I've always wondered who comprises the middle class. It seems decent paying jobs are few and far between. University grads can't find work, or work that pays more than 1000 pesos a month. Yet there seems to be a sizable middle class. I am going by observations on visits, which are about a dozen. Am I missing something?
 

Mauricio

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Nov 18, 2002
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The middle class is only a small part of the population but they all live in Santo Domingo, between Maximo Gomez to Luperon and Kennedy to Sarasota or maybe Independencia. So these 1,000,000 people you are seeing all around you when moving around in the capital.
 

Castle

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Sep 1, 2012
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You have to bear in mind that too many people appear to be higher in the social ladder than they actually are. For instance, you'll see many BMW drivers who can't afford to pay their rent or gas, or many luxury penthouses sold to families who can't pay mantenimiento, or many people dining out with a credit card that they pay using another credit car, and so forth...

"primero muerto que sencillo" is a typical dominican motto...
 

RG84

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May 21, 2010
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You have to bear in mind that too many people appear to be higher in the social ladder than they actually are. For instance, you'll see many BMW drivers who can't afford to pay their rent or gas, or many luxury penthouses sold to families who can't pay mantenimiento, or many people dining out with a credit card that they pay using another credit car, and so forth...

"primero muerto que sencillo" is a typical dominican motto...

That's just not a Dominican motto, but many Americans live by it also
 
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Mauricio

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Nov 18, 2002
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You have to bear in mind that too many people appear to be higher in the social ladder than they actually are. For instance, you'll see many BMW drivers who can't afford to pay their rent or gas, or many luxury penthouses sold to families who can't pay mantenimiento, or many people dining out with a credit card that they pay using another credit car, and so forth...

"primero muerto que sencillo" is a typical dominican motto...
That sounds more like middle class wanting to pass as high class
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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It's a very broad definition in the DR. Some 'middle class' professions like teaching, journalism and working in banks require university degrees but are very low paid, so people in that category have the middle class status but have to struggle really hard to achieve the trappings.

It's not easy to survive on a salary of RD$20,000 or even RD$30,000 and send your children to private schools, drive a car, shop in the supermarket, live in a nice area, travel overseas - unless this is a second salary and your spouse is in one of the better paid professions, or you are single and still living with your parents.

In the better paid professions, corporate middle/senior management level etc. - private medicine, law, dentistry, architecture, engineering etc. and successful businesses the income does really allow for what we would recognise as a middle class lifestyle.
 

Castle

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Sep 1, 2012
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Priorities. I know people who don't have two cents to rub together but drive jeepetas and have better phones than me.

Yes. Jeepetas and fancy smarphones are the holy grail. The rest is secondary. That's why I said Maslow never heard of DR before proposing his hierachy of needs.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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Went to a wake last night and everyone was asking my wife why we didn't drive instead of walking. I guess it's more impressive showing up in Jeepeta. There are numerous small business owners that make enough to be considered middle class. I have to go to the bank twice a day for change and deposits and the amount of money I see going in to the bank is amazing.
 

bronzeallspice

Live everyday like it's your last
Mar 26, 2012
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And then there are Dominicans who own homes (paid for) and therefore can afford yipetas and other
commodities.
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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I am also amazed at the Jeepetas in my building.. where only 10 of the apartments seem to manage to pay their 1500 peso maintenance.. and that a month late.. And these huge cars are really difficult to park in our lot and lots are drivenby women. But I guess that they feel safer in them. They certainly do not use them for going off road. Most of them just use them to and from work if that. OK maybe it is the status as well .. but safety is another issue. Might makes right on the streets of Santo Domingo.
 
Sep 4, 2012
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There is plenty of money in DR, middle class is relative and those driving BMW's, Jaguars and Ferraris are way past middle class. In the DR, one either has too much or too little, nothing in-between.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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Yes. Jeepetas and fancy smarphones are the holy grail. The rest is secondary. That's why I said Maslow never heard of DR before proposing his hierachy of needs.

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NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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The middle class is only a small part of the population but they all live in Santo Domingo, between Maximo Gomez to Luperon and Kennedy to Sarasota or maybe Independencia. So these 1,000,000 people you are seeing all around you when moving around in the capital.
Santo Domingo has the largest concentration, but there are plenty of middle class households in the interior too. In fact, cities like Santiago and San Francisco de Macor?s are mostly composed of middle class household. La Vega has a very sizeable middle class too, so does Bonao and a host of other cities/towns.

Needless to say that most of the middle class lives in the SD metro area and in the central Cibao with a few islands outside of these areas.

There is a marked difference between the upper middle and the lower middle, with the upper middle being what most people consider 'middle class.'

A simple rule of thumb for knowing where is there a sizeable middle class is to see where are businesses that target this group located and where are they expanding (La Sirena is a perfect example because their stores are not geared for the poor or the rich, but if you ever been to several of their stores you will notice that they are not all the same. What type of products they offer and the overall ambiance of their stores depends on whether the store is in an area of mostly lower middle households or upper middle. In areas with plenty of both, those stores tend to have everything and all the conditions to accommodate the upper and the lower middle classes.)

There are other type of businesses too that should be tale tell signs.

Upper and upper middle class is composed by roughly 2 million people, the lower middle 3 million. The rest are either poor or extremely poor. Country has around 9 million people, give or take.

Upper middle class reaches critical mass in just two cities, Santo Domingo and Santiago. The rest of the middle class has a strong weight in many of the provincial capitals and in a handful of other towns.

For people that live in tourists areas and are only acquainted with these areas, they may feel there's not much of a middle class and the reason is because in tourists areas there isn't much of it.

Another characteristic that many people ignore is that the bulk of the population lives roughly 10% of the land area.
 
Sep 4, 2012
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To know the middle class, one needs to get away from AI and expat's community. Visit Santiago, SD, etc...or just go to Blue Mall, Agora Mall, Buena Vist Mall. Middle and higher class Dominicans are very elitist and keep a tight circle among themselves.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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middle class is in every larger city: business owners, management of companies... even in POP there's a plenty.