U.S. median income fell last year while the poverty rate stayed relatively stable at its record high of 46.2 million people, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Wednesday.
Income inequality increased 1.6% in the country as measured by the Gini index, marking the first time since 1993 the index has shown an increase of any kind.
Median household income was $50,054 in 2011, a 1.5% decrease from the prior year, which also saw a decline, the Census found. The overall decline in median household income since 2007—the year preceding the start of the recession—was just over 8% when adjusted for inflation.
The poverty rate in 2011 remained at 15%, representing 46.2 million Americans, including 16.1 million children. That figure marked a new record number of Americans living in poverty when it first hit last year after climbing for several straight years that were marked by an unstable economy and high unemployment.
Households headed by women and blacks or Hispanics continue to see greater levels of poverty than those headed by men or non-Hispanic whites. Hispanics did see a decline in the overall poverty rate from 26.5% in 2010 to 25.3%.
Full-time working women continue to make 77% of the median earnings of men working full-time, year-round ($37,118 vs. $48,202), the Census also reported.
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Hope & Change! QUICK!!! View it now before MSNBC takes it down and gets back to cheerleading for Obama!!! I can't believe they'd even post this...maybe they are starting to come around to how pathetic Obama is...but like other stories I'm sure they'll be taken down in no time as they cast Obama negatively!
@Brandon, You see it is so easy to blame somebody else for the mistakes of the past and present. but if I thought President Obama was responsible for this the bs, I would slam him like ww wrestler, but since thats not the case slam the Obstructionists ( repubs) they filibustering the jobs act look it up...
Brandon, you know as well as the viewers here know that it is the policies of the past thirty or more years that have led to this state. To blame the current administration for these numbers is ridiculous. Your fear is showing.
@meemaw and myrdnn, did you check the background of obama,may be not because the liberal media and democrat party did vet him nobody check his personal history,if they just did what they did to Sarah Palin and john Mc cain in 2008,they investigated them like criminals and sometime tell lies about them,just to instill in peoples mind,that they are bad person,if they do their homework,their jobs as a journalist not a propagandist for OBama,he night not won,watch the movie OBAMA2016 and you will know who he is ,and what are his his intension for america, and it is not good,if you use your brain instead of being dumb so many of you are enchanted by his sweet talk and empty promises,i love america and i don'twant to see him destroyed by using its citizens as complacent ,manipulated.
Why do conservatives feel it is ok for Government to regulate private, personal, reproductive matters, refuse to allow employees to collectively bargain for living wages deregulate banks which will charge usuary rates of interest,deny the poor affordable health care insurance, and leave the elderly and unemployed and underemployed tofend for themselves, While spouting God Bless America ? These are basically things that liberals believe in and will continue to fight for to provide to all Americans.