The following article by Alex Rowell and David Madland was posted on the Center for American Progress website September 12, 2017:
The latest Census Bureau data show that for the second straight year, the typical U.S. household saw its income rise in inflation-adjusted terms in 2016, the last year of the Obama administration, and incomes have now recovered to approximately pre-Great Recession levels. The median U.S. household income was $59,039 in 2016, a 3.2 percent increase from real 2015 levels.
While the data contain some good news, the overall story is still quite bleak.
Median household income is now at roughly the same level it was in the late 1990s—meaning that household income has been effectively stagnant for two decades. Furthermore, 2016’s higher level of income when compared to years prior to 2013 could be partially driven by the survey’s redesign in 2013, which resulted in finding higher incomes than the previous survey design. It also represents a very small share of economic growth over this period. Continue reading “New Census Data Show Household Incomes Are Rising Again, But Share Going to Middle Class Is at Record Low”