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U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
The U.S. Census Bureau shows incomes of American households, the median household income, surged in 2015 by 5.2%. This increased by $2800 to $56,500. This is the largest increase since 1967. It shows that steadily improving employment and hiring is leading to improvement in incomes for the middle and working class. Ris in minimum wage has also helped . The largest increase was for the lowest 20% of the income tiers. Full time working women did better than men, with increase annually of 2.7% for women, and 1.5% for men. Nocitizen incomes increased 10.5% to $45,100, native born households went up 4.4% to $57,200. The number of people without health insurance also declined from 33 million or 10.4% of the population to 29 million people or 9.1%. Another way the changes are helping lower income households is the decline of the official poverty rate to 13.5% in 2015 by 1.2 percentage points from 14.8% in 2014.
Through a series of small incremental steps the path is being set for a recovery of household incomes for the middle class and working class. A bright spot is that the improvement has affected all age groups, household types, regions and ethnic groups, though among full time workers women did better than men. In this recession older white men have had more difficulties getting back into the workforce. This is reflected in the political scene in 2015-2016 for the election season.
Reversing the decline in U.S. median household income
09/17/2010
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2010
Wall Street Journal 02/02/2012
The world economy: Wealth without workers, workers without wealth
Economist 10/06/2014
Letâs Admit It: Globalization Has Losers
New York Times 10/15/2011
No Money for a Living Wage? But Fat Abounds
New York Times 11/29/2011
Tackling middle class poverty in the U.S.- causes and strategies
03/11/2009
Shrinking incomes, low job growth, growth in temporary jobs, offshoring of jobs, are part of a trend since 1989. This is compounded by acceleration of developments during the last decade of low savings and paltry return on savings, effects on net worth of the financial crisis of 2008 through job losses, lost income, foreclosures, high cost of health care and college tution for children. The combination is creating a new kind of middle class poverty in the U.S. The Obama administration has pushed for college education even as it is becoming less affordable and neglected jobs training. The push to raise the minimum wage helps the poor but does not do as much for the middle class.
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale
New York Times 06/09/2013
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
8 States to Raise Minimum Wage
New York Times 12/23/2011
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
New York Times 02/10/2010
Detroit's crisis- One in four households without a car in Detroit in a city with no rail system
03/19/2014
In 2007-2012 the number of households without a car in Detroit increased by 5% to 26.2%, the fastest of an city in the U.S. Many people endure long commutes and long bus waits at stops in sub zero temperatures in 2014, as a city goes through bankruptcy lacking funds to fix the broken bus system. Major cities such as New York, Boston, and the D.C. area have rail systems, for years Detroit failed to put in place a rail system. The financial crisis of 2008 left many without the incomes to support keeping a car with high insurance rates.
Grouped Articles
Detroit's Broken Buses Vex a Broke City
Wall Street Journal 03/19/2014
Wall Street Journal 04/25/2014
$200 Million Could Curb Pension Cuts in Detroit
New York Times 05/22/2014
Crumbling, Destitute Schools Threaten Detroit’s Recovery
New York Times 01/20/2016
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
Credibility of elites tested in the decade following the financial crisis of 2008-2009- falling incomes in the U.S. and high unemployment in Europe, and disaffection in local regions such as Scotland
09/20/2014
Policies of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling in a Labor government increased the role of the financial sector in the British economy and the part played by London as financial capital, only to lead to a near collapse of the banks in the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Brown and Darling are both Scots who failed to see the effects on regions in Britain such as Scotland, already affected by deindustrialization under the Conservative Thatcher government, and now hit by the repercussions of the financial crisis under first Labor and then austerity Conservative government of David Cameron. Irwin faults the elites for failing to grasp the effects of their policies on average working people, the risks involved in an overblown speculative financial sector, and only waking up with the elections for the European parliament and tense moments before the referendum in Scotland.
Grouped Articles
In Scotland and Beyond, a Crisis of Faith in the Global Elite
New York Times 09/20/2014
The world economy: Wealth without workers, workers without wealth
Economist 10/06/2014
How Righteousness Killed the World Economy
New York Times 10/12/2014
Germany, France Tap Economists for Advice to Avoid ‘Lost Decade’
Wall Street Journal 10/14/2014
Jerry Brown is spending more on ballot measures than on his own campaign - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/24/2014
British Treasury Targets Banks to Increase Tax Revenue
New York Times 12/04/2014
2016 U.S. presidential election- matching programs and slogans for improving the life of the middle and working class
08/04/2016
Ultimately politicians have to deliver and you need well planned programs, specifics for action, to build infrastructure, to create jobs, and to increase wages and incomes for people working in the service economy and in manufacturing industries- how this happens as anger is being vented through slogans and the wall itself becomes a metaphor for those left out in the last 2 decades of tech based prosperity, is itself a question in the 2016 U.S. presidential elction.
Grouped Articles
Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored
The New York Times 08/03/2016
Robust Jobs Report Spurs Fed Watch
WSJ 08/05/2016
Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Spar Over Economic Proposals
WSJ 08/09/2016
The New York Times 08/12/2016
Trump a Working-Class Hero? A Blue-Collar Town Debates His Credentials
The New York Times 08/26/2016
Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News
BBC News 08/30/2016
Faces of low and middle income families in the U.S. middle class 2013-2015- the effects of a surge in income volatility since the 2008 recession
12/03/2014
Grouped Articles
Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind on Bills
New York Times 12/03/2014
Hiring Booms, but Soft Wages Linger
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2015
In State of the Union, Obama Makes Middle-Class Pitch
Wall Street Journal 01/21/2015
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015
Not There Yet on Equal Opportunity
Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015
The New York Times 08/12/2016
Focus on wages, income disparities, rising inequality, and a shrinking middle class in the first Democratic debate, for the U.S. 2016 presidential election
10/14/2015
O'Malley, Sanders and Clinton emphasize this issue in the debate.
Grouped Articles
The CNN Democratic debate transcript, annotated - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/14/2015
Democrats Say the Economy Stinks
Wall Street Journal 10/15/2015
Clinton, judged winner of debate, holds big national lead over Sanders - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/20/2015
Not There Yet on Equal Opportunity
Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015
Washington Post 10/23/2015
Paris massacre could alter the 2016 presidential race in this country - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/15/2015
U.S. income and poverty in 2014
09/17/2015
The median income in the U.S. was 6.5% below the level in 2007, according to the Census Bureau. It declined in 2011 and 2012 and was stagnant in 2014. About 14.8% of the population, or 46.7 million people, are below the poverty level. About 34.7% of the people in the U.S. have experienced income levels below the poverty level for 2 months or more between 2009-2012
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015
A Better Way to Measure Poverty
Wall Street Journal 10/19/2015
The fatal trend among white working class Americans - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
The I-Word Our Debates Are Missing
Wall Street Journal 12/10/2015
A Republican Cure for Liberal Failures on Poverty
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2016
Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News
BBC News 08/30/2016
The warnings on trade policies by 2010-2011 and sharply shifting public sentiment in the U.S. across all age, income and education groups
04/07/2011
WSJ poll showing the sharply shifting public sentiment on trade in 2011, perceived as hurting American workers, and a study by Autor, Hanson and Dorn, that showed its effect by counties in the U.S., gave early warnings that were not heeded by policymakers.
Grouped Articles
This one anecdote perfectly explains how Donald Trump is hijacking the GOP - The Washington Post
Washington Post 03/28/2016
Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China Trade
Wall Street Journal 09/27/2011
The Hidden Job Crisis for American Men
BusinessWeek 04/07/2011
What’s Our Duty to the People Globalization Leaves Behind?
New York Times 01/26/2016
Pacific Trade Deal Likely to Have Narrow Reach
Wall Street Journal 08/01/2015
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
The Economist on corporate profits in America and the smaller share of output going to workers- a public debate in the U.S. presidential election of 2016
03/24/2016
Most of the candidates in the 2016 presidential election have emphasized the problems of sluggish wages and lack of upward mobility in the U.S. Here the Economist looks at the situation with a small number of firms reaping the benefits of high profits and a lagging working class. Rising disparities in income and inequality are creating social discontent and voter dissatisfaction with the establishment candidates.
Grouped Articles
Economist 03/24/2016
Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News
BBC News 08/30/2016
Apple must now pay its taxes. This is a vindication of protest | Owen Jones
The Guardian 08/30/2016
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
The New York Times 09/16/2016
Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University
The New York Times 10/24/2016
Deep Poverty in the U.S. increasing from about 30% of people in poverty in 1975 to 44% in 2013
09/17/2010
Deep poverty is defined as income 50% below the official poverty line. Since the beginning of the recession deep poverty in the U.S. has increased from 42% to 44%. The striking change in America is the accentuation of the income differences with the rise in deep poverty. This is coupled with similiar changes in income differences for the middle class Americans with income concentrated at the higher levels.
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 10/11/2013
Patchwork of Local Wage Laws Fuels Debate Over Raising Federal Minimum
Wall Street Journal 12/01/2013
Bloomberg's Real Antipoverty Record
Wall Street Journal 12/18/2013
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2010
Upward Mobility Has Not Declined, Study Says
New York Times 01/23/2014
New Data Muddle Debate on Economic Mobility
Wall Street Journal 01/24/2014
College and University Food Bank Alliance and increasing reliance of low income household students on food pantries
04/08/2015
The College and University Food Bank Alliance has 183 members. With increases in tution of about 25% at U.S. universities and colleges since 2007, more students from low income households are having to reduce meals or use a food bank. About 40% of students in the UC system are from households with incomes less than $50,000 in 2015. Wage stagnation in the U.S. as food costs increase is also leading to more students having full tution aid depending on supplemental ways of meeting food costs. This is affecting the ability of students to study leading the UC system head, Janet Napolitano, to get a a study on food hunger.
Grouped Articles
Colleges Launch Food Pantries to Help Low-Income Students
Wall Street Journal 04/08/2015
College Majors Figure Big in Earnings
Wall Street Journal 05/07/2015
What Could Raising Taxes on the 1% Do? Surprising Amounts
New York Times 10/16/2015
A Better Way to Measure Poverty
Wall Street Journal 10/19/2015
Washington Post 10/23/2015
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
Globalization and the white working class in Europe and the U.S. in 2016- job losses, regional disparities, growing inequality with declining incomes
07/13/2016
Sanders, Trump, in the U.S., Marie Le Pen in France, and Brexiters in England appeal to white working class which has not benefitted from trade agreements and globalization. Globalization has produced very different outcomes for different industries and regions, benefitting some and hurting others. Leaders of existing political parties have failed to grasp and respond to these changes leaving room for others to take up the cause of the white working class. TPP trade agreement for instance benefits the information technology industry and hurts the automobile industry in the U.S., producing unequal outcomes that come after years of job losses and hollowing out in some industries- making it unpopular, and raising questions about the wisdom of such policies when most of the gains in free trade are already behind us according to Krugman and other experts.
Grouped Articles
Brexit: The Era of the Angry Voter Is Upon Us - SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE 07/06/2016
What the New GOP Means for Wall Street
WSJ 07/19/2016
Support for Trump in unexpected places | US elections 2016 | DW.COM | 20.07.2016
DW.COM 07/20/2016
The presidential campaign and the US middle class | US elections 2016 | DW.COM | 13.03.2016
DW.COM 03/13/2016
Hillary Clinton Asks Not for Trust, but for Faith in Her Competence
The New York Times 07/29/2016
Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views
WSJ 07/28/2016
The minimum wage as political strategy- Democrats and state ballot measures in the U.S. for 2014-2015
04/15/2013
A push at the federal level for the minimum wage by the Obama administration in the U.S. and a push for state ballot measures by Democrats is the political strategy of Democrats in 2014. The idea is to make this a wedge issue with Republicans and tap into growing populism with the increasing gap in incomes.
Grouped Articles
Democrats Turn to Minimum Wage as 2014 Strategy
New York Times 12/29/2013
America's Miserly Minimum Wage Needs an Upgrade
Wall Street Journal 04/15/2013
Michigan Becomes Seventh State This Year to Raise Minimum Wage
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2014
Strong Voice in ‘Fight for 15’ Fast-Food Wage Campaign
New York Times 12/04/2014
States’ Minimum Wages Rise, Helping Millions of Workers
New York Times 12/31/2014
Economic-Ladder Concerns Trump Income Gap in Poll
Wall Street Journal 05/05/2015
Poverty among white Americans in 2010-2015
03/11/2009
A previous generation could count on good jobs in manufacturing with only a high school education. The last two decades of globalization have hit manufacturing jobs and wages in the U.S. hard and the impact is greatest on people without a college education. Other problems aggravating income and causing poverty is the increase of dropout rates from the labor force of young white American men, the effects of drug use and the lack of stable marraiges. This creates an underclass of whites in America, similiar to the underclass among minorities.
Grouped Articles
Racial Wealth Gap Widened During Recession
New York Times 04/28/2013
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
New York Times 06/22/2013
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
New York Times 02/10/2010
Faces of men who are unemployed or in part time work in the U.S. as one sixth of men 25-54 lack jobs in 2014
02/07/2012
The sharp decline in inflation adjusted wages for less skilled workers since 2000 and lack of decent paying jobs has led to many men too discouraged to look for work, and dependent on a spouse's income or government benefits. This is unlike any other post 1950's economic recovery in the U.S.
Grouped Articles
More Men in Prime Working Ages Don't Have Jobs
Wall Street Journal 02/06/2014
Bayer: Pressure on Prices Has Bad Side Effects
Wall Street Journal 02/07/2012
New York Times 02/08/2012
Hiring Rises, but Number of Jobless Stays High
New York Times 04/04/2014
Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones
New York Times 04/27/2014
A part-timer boom, or blip? - The Washington Post
Washington Post 07/16/2014
"Deaths of Despair"- older white middle aged Americans 45-54 the situation in 2016
07/01/2016
Opioids, other diseases, social isolation, manufacturing job losses, lower social security checks as they retire early, lower savings cushion in adversity, are leading to higher mortality rates for this group in the U.S. This includes women in low income groups. See the article on the drop in the rankings of the Social Progress Index for the U.S. to 19th because of problems that include the woes of this group.
Grouped Articles
Brexit: The Era of the Angry Voter Is Upon Us - SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE 07/06/2016
Senate Approves Bill to Combat Opioid Addiction Crisis
The New York Times 07/13/2016
Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored
The New York Times 08/03/2016
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
Tom Vilsack’s lonely fight for a ‘forgotten’ rural America
Washington Post 09/27/2016
Modest U.S. Jobs Growth Keeps Labor Market Steady
WSJ 10/07/2016
The University of California System, low income students and upward mobility
09/16/2015
The UC System in California with campuses in Irvine, Davis, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Los Angeles, Berkeley, ranks high in the number of low income students enrolled, especially from Latino or Hispanic backgrounds. A new NYT index shows how the UC system compares favorably with other colleges across the country, in terms of low income students enrolled.
Grouped Articles
California’s Upward-Mobility Machine
New York Times 09/16/2015
Why millennials love Bernie Sanders, and why that may not be enough - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/28/2015
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
U.S. middle-class incomes reached highest-ever level in 2016, Census Bureau says
Washington Post 09/13/2017
Heat, Smoke and Covid Are Battering the Workers Who Feed America
NYTimes.com 08/28/2020
Large income losses for people ages 55-64 and nearing retirement in the U.S.
05/27/2010
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Why Many Retirees Could Outlive a $1 Million Nest Egg
New York Times 06/08/2013
Suddenly, Retiree Nest Eggs Look More Fragile
New York Times 06/15/2013
Chuck Schwab Is Worried About Small Investors. Should We Worry Too?
BusinessWeek 05/27/2010
The Case for Dividend Funds in Retirement
Wall Street Journal 04/15/2014
Hiring Booms, but Soft Wages Linger
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2015
Decline in household income in the U.S. 2009-2012
09/17/2010
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2010
Wall Street Journal 02/02/2012
The world economy: Wealth without workers, workers without wealth
Economist 10/06/2014
Hiring Booms, but Soft Wages Linger
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2015
Recession Officially Over, U.S. Incomes Kept Falling
New York Times 10/09/2011
Meyerson, Cherlin and Dionne in the Washington Post on the severe problems facing America's white working class by 2015
11/12/2015
Meyerson, Cherlin and Dionne describes the severe problems facing the white working class in America by 2015, as incomes and educational opportunities decline, and social structures disintegrate. Upward and social mobility in the U.S. is severely affected by this situation.
Grouped Articles
America’s white working class is a dying breed - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
The missing working class - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
Both parties face a blue-collar imperative - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
German lessons on power-sharing - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/12/2015
Populism on the Rise in GOP Race for President
Wall Street Journal 11/12/2015
The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise
Wall Street Journal 12/16/2015
Tax Policy Center research that shows $157 billion generated from increasing taxes on the over 1 million income earners in the top 1% in the U.S.
10/16/2015
The top 1% earn about $2.1 million on average and are considered to be the largest beneficiaries of tax and economic policy of recent decades, just as global competition severely hurt wages of factory workers. A Tax Policy Center (Brookings Institution and Urban Institute backed) study shows that increasing taxes on the 1.13 million households in the top 1% from a federal rate of 33.4% currently to 40% would generate $157 billion, enough to provide for tution free educaton in colleges and universities in the U.S., finance spending on infrastructure, and provide assistance to the middle class for high health premiums. Public opinion in the U.S. favors higher taxes for the top 1% to pay for programs that increase opportunity for the middle class and workers with low incomes. Education is a great leveler of income disparities over time, one of the reasons the U.S. offered tution free education to returning veterans after World War II. Incomes for people in this income group of the top 1% would still be about $1 million a year after the tax increase, according to the Tax Policy Center.
Grouped Articles
What Could Raising Taxes on the 1% Do? Surprising Amounts
New York Times 10/16/2015
Not There Yet on Equal Opportunity
Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015
Washington Post 10/23/2015
The New York Times 08/12/2016
Mark Sanford: I Support You, Donald Trump. Now Release Your Tax Returns.
The New York Times 08/15/2016
U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007
WSJ 09/13/2016
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