Earlier this month, the Census Bureau supplied some long anticipated good news for America’s working class – incomes for the typical household increased by a robust five point two percent last year. What was perhaps most interesting was that average incomes expanded the most among families earning the least.
According to Census data, average incomes for the poorest fifth of the population increased by six point six percent after three straight years of decline. The official poverty rate fell to thirteen point five percent last year from nearly fifteen percent in twenty fourteen, the sharpest one-year decline since the late nineteen sixties. Last year was associated with a significant level of job growth.
As unemployment dipped, entry level workers became more difficult to hire, helping to propel compensation. Increases in minimum wages around the nation likely also contributed. As indicated by writer Eduardo Porter, despite last year’s progress, available data indicate the median household income is still two point four percent below the all-time peak achieved in nineteen ninety nine.
Households at the tenth percentile, meaning those who are poorer than ninety percent of the population, remain poorer than they were in nineteen eighty nine.
