Median Income Down, Poverty Up
More troubling news on the downward economic spiral of America’s working families. In 2010, median household income declined and the poverty rate increased, according to U.S. Census Bureau data announced this morning.
Running counter to the American tradition of ever-rising prosperity, real median household income in the United States declined by 2.3 percent from 2009 to 2010 and now stands at $49,445. Further:
The nation’s official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009—the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009—the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.
Behind the bad data are two factors, according to the Economic Policy Institute ( EPI ). First, the unemployment rate increased from 9.3 percent in 2009 to 9.6 percent in 2010. Second, long-term unemployment, or the percent unemployed 27 weeks or more, grew from 31.2 percent in 2009 to 43.3 percent in 2010.
Bottom line: America needs jobs. President Obama’s American Jobs Act goes a long way toward moving the nation toward desperately needed job creation. So where are the Republicans in Congress on job creation? In yet one more sign that they prefer gamesmanship to aiding the American public, the St. Louis Beacon reports today about an appropriations bill approved by a Republican-led subcommittee that would defund Amtrak in the Midwest and cut more than 10,000 jobs on transportation infrastructure.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka puts the data in perspective. Calling the data “chilling,” Trumka says :
As America reaches record levels of economic inequality and corporate CEO pay continues to skyrocket–median CEO pay jumped 27 percent in 2010-–working Americans are being left behind.
Check out the AFL-CIO’s six-point plan, America Wants to Work, and get involved in the fight to create good jobs by signing the America Wants to Work pledge here, or text PLEDGE to 235246.
