American Incomes Rise Across the Board

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The U.S. Census Bureau recently published a report on the economic health of Americans. Surprisingly, it paints a mostly rosy picture. Household incomes in the United States are up. Job postings are at an all time high, and poverty is down.

U.S. incomes rose for the second year in a row, by 3.2% from 2015 to 2016. The official poverty rate declined .8%, also the second of a two-year decline.

The Great Recession in 2007 devastated Americans’ incomes and savings. The recent rise in average income represents the biggest economic gains U.S. households have made since then.

Additionally, from 2015 to 2016, the percentage of Americans with healthcare for all or part of the year inched up .3% to 91.2%. Two thirds of Americans continue to receive insurance form their employer rather than the government.

What Determines Income?

The study looked at numerous measures of wealth such as age and education. Household incomes, it turns out, are tightly tied to these types of factors. Unsurprisingly, higher earners are more likely to be employed full-time, well educated and married. On the other hand, lower-income earners tend to be less educated, only work part-time, and be single.