The Economic News From the Census Bureau Is Very Good realclearmarkets.com/articles/2019/…
Between 2017 and 2018:
· Real median family income up 1.2%
· Real median earnings up 3.4%
· Full-time, year-round workers up 2.3 million
· Poverty rate down from 12.3% to 11.8%; childhood poverty fell faster; net 1.4 million people left poverty
· Real median family income up 1.2%
· Real median earnings up 3.4%
· Full-time, year-round workers up 2.3 million
· Poverty rate down from 12.3% to 11.8%; childhood poverty fell faster; net 1.4 million people left poverty
· Income in the bottom 80% of households was up significantly, only the top 20% of households saw an income decline, as a result, the Gini coefficient (a measure of income inequality, higher numbers mean more inequality) fell from 0.489 to 0.486
· Usually when the Gini index falls, incomes go down for everyone; it’s been 20 years since we’ve seen this big a decline in the Gini index when incomes went up
The news coverage didn’t seem to jibe with the numbers. The real good news about income, earnings, employment and poverty was overlooked entirely to focus on the more abstract Gini coefficient. When income and employment go up, and poverty goes down, that’s unalloyed good.
