Median earnings see first annual gain since the Great Recession

In a long-awaited sign that middle-class Americans are finally seeing real economic gains, USA households got a raise last year after seven years of stagnant incomes.

Among other things, the report noted that median household incomes rose for the first time since 2007 (and saw the largest increase on record, no less), and the U.S. saw the largest annual percentage point decrease in poverty since 1999.

Income in the median USA household peaked in 1999 at $57,909, the bureau says.

The uptick in wages lifted more Americans out of poverty.

In 2015 there were 43.1 million Americans living in poverty, 3.5 million fewer than in 2014.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The poorest Americans saw the biggest income gain, the Census report found, driven by widespread increases in the minimum wage and increasing competition for low-wage jobs.

Lo and behold, today’s Census Bureau release shows that American households did get a big bump in income past year. Some 90.9% of people had health insurance in 2015, compared to 89.6% in 2014.

The number of uninsured Americans also fell.

Democrat Hillary Clinton has argued that the economy is improving under President Obama but that working families still need more help to get ahead.

Median incomes picked up in all regions of the United States, across all age groups, and for most ethnic and racial groups, she said. One exception: Incomes didn’t rise for households living outside of metropolitan areas. That’s the first statistically significant increase since 2007, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report Tuesday.

Noncitizens, who tend to earn less and have higher workforce participation rates than native-born workers, saw some of the largest increases in incomes previous year. While up 7.3 percent from its post-recession low of $52,666 in 2012, median income was still 2.4 percent below its inflation-adjusted peak in 1999. White households saw a 4.4 percent increase to $62,950, while Hispanic homes benefited from a 6.1 percent jump to $45,148. Some 27.3 million people lacked health coverage, according to the National Health Interview Survey, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A more recent batch of federal figures released earlier this month showed the uninsured rate dipped lower in early 2016, at 8.6%.