Americans Not Better Off Than They Were 2 1/2 Years Ago [View All]

[Better Believe It]

Americans Not Better Off Than They Were 2 1/2 Years Ago
By: Jon Walker
September 13, 2011

Are the American people better off than they were 2 1/2 years ago? The short answer from the Census Bureau is no.



Here are a few highlights from the Census report on Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010 (PDF):

•Real median household income was $49,445 in 2010, a 2.3 percent decline from 2009.
•Since 2007, the year before the most recent recession, real median household income has
declined 6.4 percent and is 7.1 percent below the median household income peak that occurred in 1999.
•The official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent—up from 14.3 percent in 2009. This was the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. Since 2007, the poverty rate has increased by 2.6 percentage points, from 12.5 percent to 15.1 percent.
•In 2010, the percentage of people without health insurance, 16.3 percent, was not statistically different from the rate in 2009. The number of uninsured people increased to 49.9 million in 2010 from 49.0 million in 2009.

http://elections.firedoglake.com/2011/09/13/americans-not-better-off-than-the-were-2-12-years-ago/