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Thursday, Aug 23, 2012 10:08 PM UTC

Big story you missed

U.S. household income has dropped sharply since the recession

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Topics: Biggest story you missed, U.S. Economy, household income, Finance, Big story you missed,

Big story you missedGreg Mann, an unemployed research analyst and real estate appraiser, sorts and cuts coupons at his home Aug. 14 in Braselton, Ga.. The recession that ended three years ago lingers on as the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. (AP/John Amis)

Household income has declined in the three years since the recession. According to a report by Sentier Research, a firm headed by two former Census Bureau executives, from June 2009 to June 2012 the inflation-adjusted median household income fell 4.8 percent to $50,964.

The Washington Post reports that the study provides “another sign of the stubborn weakness of the economic recovery,” adding that incomes have dropped more since the beginning of the recovery than they did during the recession itself, when they declined 2.6 percent. Median income is now 7.2 percent below its December 2007 level and 8.1 percent below where it stood in January 2000.

The Post spoke with Gary Burtless, a Brookings Institution economist, who said “the character of the recovery has been one that has benefited businesses more than it has workers.”

Jaime Cone is an editorial fellow at Salon. More Jaime Cone.

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