"Inflation quashed household income gains in 2024, census finds"

From the Washington Post September 9:

The richest Americans’ income rose, and women and Black people lost ground, the data found.

Most Americans’ household income remained steady last year, in part because inflation counteracted gains in income, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.

But there were some notable exceptions: The richest 10 percent of households saw their income rise, and women and Black people lost ground, the census data shows.

After inflation, the median household income last year reached $83,730, a slight but not statistically significant increase from $82,690 in 2023. Overall, the Census Bureau found, median household income is relatively unchanged from the 2019 level when taking into account inflation, which has increased the prices of everyday goods in that period.

“We didn’t see a lot of big changes for middle- and lower-income households, but we did see the continued persistence of racial and gender disparities,” said Lelaine Bigelow, executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. “And it goes to show that the progress that we’ve made in the past is still very fragile.”

The census findings may help explain why many Americans have felt unhappy with the economy and financially squeezed by inflation and price hikes on housing, groceries, child care and other everyday costs. A December 2024 report from the Pew Research Center found that only 30 percent of Americans were satisfied with their pay and that most American workers were frustrated because their wages hadn’t kept up with the higher cost of living.

Bigelow said she was unsurprised by the persisting median income levels, given there were no major policy shifts that would significantly affect household income between 2023 and 2024.

Changes to median income varied by age, race and citizenship status. Black households saw a 3.3 percent decline in median income between 2023 and 2024, whereas median incomes of Asian and Hispanic households increased around 5 percent and remained steady for White households.

The decline for Black households shows the economy did not work well for those families last year, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, said in a statement.

“While official poverty declined overall, the Black official poverty rate remained flat ... Black household income declined, and the share of Black individuals without health insurance rose, adding to long-standing inequities that are often a result of discrimination and systemic racism that create barriers to education, job, and housing opportunities,” the center said.....

....MUCH MORE 

And in other news from 2024:

Worst Revision In History: BLS Admits A Record 911K Fewer Jobs Were Added Under Biden