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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 13 september 2017
American household income finally topped 1999 peak last year

$12,943. record.
Other measures of Ameri- The Census report covers
cans’ economic health 2016, the last year of the
improved. The poverty rate Obama administration.
fell last year to 12.7 per- Robert Greenstein, presi-
cent from 13.5 percent, dent of the CBPP, argued
Census said. The number that the agenda being
of people living below the pursued by President Don-
poverty line declined 2.5 ald Trump and congres-
million to 40.6 million. sional Republican leaders
That brings the proportion would reverse those gains.
of households living be- The income gains reflect
low the poverty line back mostly a rise in the num-
to pre-recession levels, ber of Americans with jobs
though it remains about and in people working full
one and half percentage time, the agency said. That
points higher than its lowest means households were
point, in 2000. more likely to include a
A family of four with an in- full-time worker. It also sug-
come below $24,563 was gests that pay raises for
defined as poor last year. those who already had
And the proportion of jobs remained meager.
Americans without health About 1.2 million more
In this Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 photo, people shop in Miami. After years of sluggish growth, typical
U.S. household incomes finally topped pre-recession levels in 2016 and reached an all-time high, insurance fell to 8.8 per- Americans earned income
according to information released by the Census Bureau, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017. cent, the report showed, in 2016 than in 2015, and
(AP Photo/Alan Diaz) down from 9.1 percent. It 2.2 million more had full-
is the lowest proportion on time year-round jobs. q
By CHRIS RUGABER mist at the Economic Policy
AP Economics Writer Institute, said that adjusting
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a for the change in meth-
stark reminder of the dam- odology, median income
age done by the Great Re- still remains below its 1999
cession and of the modest peak. Yet she added that
recovery that followed, the the census report shows
median American house- that American households
hold only last year finally have made significant
earned more than it did in economic progress in 2015
1999. and 2016.
Incomes for a typical “We are definitely pulling
U.S. household, adjusted ourselves out of the deep
for inflation, rose 3.2 per- hole of the Great Reces-
cent from 2015 to 2016 to sion,” Gould said on a con-
$59,039, the Census Bu- ference call with reporters.
reau said. The median is Median household income
the point at which half the rose $4,641, or 8.5 percent,
households fall below and from 2014 through 2016.
half are above. That’s the best two-year
Last year’s figure is slightly gain on records dating to
above the previous peak 1967, according to analysts
of $58,665, reached in at the Center on Budget
1999. It is also the first time and Policy Priorities.
since the recession ended Yet that improvement
in 2009 that the typical comes after a steep reces-
household earned more sion and a slow recovery
than it did in 2007, when that left most American
the recession began. households with barely any
Trudi Renwick, the bureau’s income increases. The lack
assistant division chief, cau- of meaningful raises has
tioned that the census in left many people feeling
2013 changed how it asks left behind economically,
households about income, a sentiment that factored
making historical compari- into the 2016 elections.
sons less than precise. The report also showed that
Still, the Census data is income inequality wors-
closely watched because ened last year, extending
of its comprehensive na- a trend in place for roughly
ture. It is based on inter- four decades. Average in-
views with 70,000 house- comes among the wealthi-
holds and includes detailed est 5 percent climbed 5.5
data on incomes and pov- percent to $375,088. Aver-
erty across a range of de- age incomes for the poor-
mographic groups. est one-fifth of households,
Elise Gould, a senior econo- meanwhile 2.5 percent to