Poverty down at the Shore, but incomes stagnate

The median USA household’s income rose 5.2 percent in 2015 to an inflation-adjusted level of $56,516, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

The data is based on information collected in the 2016 and earlier Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC). The gap between the wealthiest five percent of Americans and those right in the middle barely shrank and is wider than it was before the recession.

Households in MA saw their incomes rise in 2015, but at only about half the level of gains nationally.

What economists have praised most about the census data is that the income gains have not only benefited the top 1 percent, but the number of people in poverty fell by 3.5 million. “The labor participation rate is still very low”.

Racial disparities, however, persist in IL when it comes to median household income, according to the data. Prior to the Great Recession, the rate hovered around 66 percent.

Taking a closer look at the poverty numbers in Grand Rapids, the overall rate decreased from 26.8 percent in 2014 to 22.9 percent in 2015.

New Jersey household income went from $71,994 in 2014 to $72,222 in 2015. “That’s going to contribute to income inequality”, he said.

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

“These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part-time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job”, BLS said. As we in the nonprofit sector know from daily experience, the household income gains are welcome but fragile. “That fits with what we’ve seen with respect to the job recovery that started to occur over the course of 2015”. Allentown’s household income dropped 6.1 percent to $37,146 and Bethlehem by 5.6 percent to $47,289. However, the inflation-adjusted incomes of most American households are still smaller than in the late 1990s, according to the New York Times.

The share of people in the United States uninsured for the entire year was 9.1 percent, or 29 million people.

Democrats praise and Republicans deride the news, and both parties need to contend with the enduring burden of the national debt rising to almost 80 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“Any reduction in poverty is a good thing”, said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.

Floridians got a modest raise and poverty dropped slightly across the state previous year, but Florida still lags the rest of the country in those key economic measures, new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show.

Mr. Sukits said rising incomes across the board will lead to increased consumption, which increases retail sales, and that should have a positive impact on the nation’s gross domestic product. “Well, that works the other way, too”.