Median Income Rises, But Not Fast Enough
The question is, though, will your income go up as fast as the median has?
In June of this year, median income topped out at $53,491.00 for a household of four. That sounds encouraging and has been cited as evidence of the continuing improvement of our economy. But the Great Recession of 2009 hasn’t receded completely into memory. That seemingly robust $53,491.00 remains 3.1 percent below the June 2009 median of $55,589.00, largely because unemployment has been stubbornly slow in lessening.
So it’s still too early to celebrate. Overall, Americans' median income remains 5.9 percent below its January 2000 level.
During a rally in Homestead in July of 2012, USW President Leo W. Gerard stated, “At this point in our economic history, at this point in the evolution of America, and at this point in global economic history, the gap between the rich and the rest of us is the greatest it's ever been.”
Other comments made by Gerard at this same rally indirectly referenced Census Bureau statistics: Those stats show that the top 5 percent of wage earners saw their inflation-adjusted median income grow by 45 percent between 1985 and 2010. But during the same period, workers in the bottom two-fifths of earners saw median income rise just 3 percent.
These statistics demonstrate, President Gerard said, “I can't guarantee that we'll win every fight. But I'll guarantee that if we don't fight, we'll lose.”
