Household Income Is Below Recession Levels, Report Says

[Purveyor]

By Michael A. Fletcher, Updated: Thursday, August 23, 2:00 PM

Household income is down sharply since the recession ended three years ago, according to a report released Thursday, providing another sign of the stubborn weakness of the economic recovery.

From June 2009 to June 2012, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 4.8 percent to $50,964, according to a report by Sentier Research, a firm headed by two former Census Bureau executives.

Incomes have dropped more since the beginning of the recovery than they did during the recession itself, when they declined 2.6 percent, according to the report, which analyzed data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The recession, the most severe since the Great Depression, lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.

Overall, median income is 7.2 percent below its December 2007 level and 8.1 percent below where it stood in January 2000, which was at $55,470, according to the report.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/household-income-is-below-recession-levels-report-says/2012/08/23/aa497460-ec80-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html

[stevenleser]

1. I wonder what the mean income is. The mean is probably the same, in other words more xfer of wealth

to the wealthy.

[sadbear]

4. +1

That was my thought, too.

[HiPointDem]

2. kr. and the number of jobs per capita is below what it was before BUSH took office.

[woo me with science]

3. This was not a recovery, but a restructuring.

Welcome to the new normal in neoAmerica.

[Skittles]

5. wait until the new norm of employment really takes hold

everyone will be temporary, contract workers - even if you have a somewhat regular gig you will be forced to constantly re-interview for your job

[woo me with science]

9. Good point.

Unions, benefits, job security, and living wages a quaint memory. Desperate temporary hands are so much cheaper than valued employees.

[Hydra]

6. That's because the "Recession" never ended

Wall St. proclaiming that they're happy(at the moment) is not an indication of a healthy economy.

This was a planned depression, and we haven't hit rock bottom yet. Just wait to see what this summer's drought adds to it...

[taught_me_patience]

7. Probably due to ZIRP

destroying fixed income.

[Trillo]

8. households are not really in the corporate-to-corporate money flow.

Households are mostly supported by wages, and the sector does best when jobs are plentiful and employers are crying for more workers.

[4th law of robotics]

10. Very concerning

we have a largely service and consumer based economy.


If people don't have money to spend on services and consumer goods we aren't going to recover.

[CabCurious]

11. Household income levels & wages as % of economy are down while corporate profits hit record highs

This is what's wrong with America.

This is NOT the type of capitalism that made us strong.

[Bandit]

12. But the 1% earnings went up 22%

When they have ALL the money what happens next?

[woo me with science]

13. Kick

[CabCurious]

14. Gives me excuse to post profits vs wages charts

This is essentially what's wrong in America and increasingly around the entire industrialized world, because the FINANCE economy has come to fully dominate the REAL economy.

CORPORATE PROFITS
[IMG][/IMG]

WAGES AS PERCENTAGE OF THE ECONOMY

[woo me with science]

15. kick