Median income declined last year, according to recently released info from the United States Census. Working-class Americans are having a harder time of things, including lower earnings among other financial maladies. Article source: Median Income

Individuals not getting much better

There are jobs out there, but they are not jobs that people can support a family and live off of. That is why people are struggling so much. It is not a secret that individuals have been having a very hard time for a while, and there are not enough great jobs accessible.

The median income in the country has now decreased, according to the United States Census annual report on household income. CNN explained that the income has decreased to $50,054 from 2010, which is a 1.5 percent decrease. Last year, the median family income dropped to $62,273, which was a bigger decrease at 1.7 percent.

Apparently 1999 was the peak year for wages since there were more paydays than there are now. Since 1999, there has been an 8.9 percent decrease in earnings adjusted for inflation. There was a decrease from 2007 by 8.1 percent.

Poverty not so bad anymore

There was also a small decrease in the amount of people living under the poverty line, the Census noted. There is always a silver lining.

According to CNN, the poverty rate declined 0.1 percent, from 15.1 percent in 2010 to 15.0 percent in 2011, a hardly noticeable decrease. In total, an estimated 42.6 million people live below the poverty threshold, which for a family of four was a household income of $23,021. A rise in the poverty rate had been forecast, but perhaps the benefit of an abundance of low-paying jobs is that more were able to hold down a full-time job, even at low pay.

According to NBC News, the rate of people under the poverty line was higher for African-Americans and Caucasians than it was for Asian or Hispanic households.

The gender gap was unchanged, as women generally earned 77 percent of the earnings of men in 2011. Both genders, however, experienced a 2.5 percent wage decline last year.

Some doing well while others do a whole lot worse

There was a 1.6 percent increase in the amount of income in the nation belonging to the top earners. In 2010, only 21.3 percent of income went to the top 5 percent of earners, or those making over $186,000 a year. In 2011, that number was at 22.3 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal. Though there were many people who did very well in 2011, most did not.

NBC News explained that there was a rise in income equality on the Gini index. This is the first time that has happened on the index since 1993.

Sources

CNN

Wall Street Journal