Report: Median Income Worse Now Than It Was During Great Recession

[WestVirginiaRebel]

CBS DC:

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — A new report put out by the Pew Research Center finds that the median income is worse now than it was during the Great Recession.

According to Pew, the Census Bureau showed that the median income for American households in 2009 – the official end of the Great Recession – was $52,195 (in 2011 dollars), while the median income dipped to $50,054 last year, falling 4.1 percent over two years.

“The decrease in household income from 2009 to 2011 almost exactly equaled the decrease in income in the two years of the recession,” the Pew report stated. “During the Great Recession, the median U.S. household income (in 2011 dollars) dropped from $54,489 in 2007 to $52,195 in 2009, a loss of 4.2 percent. By this yardstick, the recovery from the Great Recession is bypassing the nation’s households.”

The Pew report added that the recovery is the “most negative for household income during any post-recession period in the past four decades,” which means that the median household income has not risen above a previous peak over the past 12 years.

The poverty rate rose from 12.5 percent in 2007 to 15 percent last year as the median household wealth fell by 39 percent over a three-year span, from $131,016 in 2007 to $79,431 in 2010.

“[T]he economic health of American families deteriorated further in the first two years of the recovery from the Great Recession,” the Pew report explains. “Much like an unwelcome dinner guest who does not know when it is time to leave, the Great Recession seems blissfully unaware that it was declared over in June 2009.”

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But Romney hates poor people, or something...

[Draggingtree]

Correctly defining 'middle class' a necessary step

 

Median household income in US about $50K, much less than figures used by politicians

 

September 18, 2012 12:00 am

(8) Comments

 

The following editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday:

 

The Census Bureau reported last week that middle-class income is continuing to shrink, top-tier incomes are growing and those at the bottom remained about the same. It wasn't shocking news, confirming what dozens of independent studies have shown.

What does come as a surprise is what politicians regard as middle income.

On Friday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said "middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less."

That's about where President Obama has drawn the line, too. He wants to raise the income tax rate on "the wealthy" who earn more than that.

A better place to begin the discussion is at true middle income, where half earn more and half earn less. The Census Bureau puts median household income for 2011, adjusted for inflation, at $50,054. That's down $780 in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2010.

http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/correctly-defining-middle-class-a-necessary-step/article_dc19ca90-5a30-51c8-8329-4e6709c0829c.html