A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau concludes that Americans are seeing no significant growth in their income or relief from the threat of poverty. That persistent stagnation must be addressed by President Barack Obama and the candidates who want to succeed him.
The bureau’s American Community Survey study said that in 2014, the nation’s median household income—half of all households made more, the other half less—was $53,657. In the last three years, the number has barely budged, and that’s after two years of income declines.
At the same time, the Census report said, last year’s poverty rate was 15.5 percent, down by only 0.3 percentage points from 2013. The federal government uses a different calculation for poverty, the Alternative Current Population Survey, but its 2014 rate is not much different, 14.8 percent—nearly 47 million Americans—and essentially unchanged from the three previous years, not to mention 2.3 percentage points higher than in 2007.
The best news in the Census report is that almost 9 million Americans gained health coverage last year, largely the result of the federal Affordable Care Act. That reduced the national uninsured rate to 10.4 percent (about 33 million people), down from 13.3 percent in 2013. In Pennsylvania, 8.5 percent were uninsured, down from 9.7 percent in 2013.
Overall, the Census survey confirms that middle-income, working-class and poor households are not gaining benefits from the economic recovery. America needs more than a higher minimum wage. It needs politicians of both parties to understand the numbers and the frustrations they represent for American families. More than that, the nation needs them to find a solution.