Income Still Hasn’t Come Close to Recovering From the Great Recession

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Today’s announcement that incomes increased 5 percent in 2015 was genuinely good news. But it’s also worthwhile to put it in perspective. As most of you know, income growth was very high in the 50s and 60s but slowed down after that. However, it didn’t flatline. Income continued to grow, only at a slower rate. However, since 2007 we’ve fallen far behind even that anemic growth rate:

Even with last year’s spike, the effects of the Great Recession are still with us. If we’d continued growing at the rate of 1980-2007, median household income would be $4,500 higher than it is. That’s a big hit. There’s still plenty of work to do.