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Workers Tread Water; Jobs Disappear; Household Income Falls

There's a big report on U.S. income out today from the Census Department. Here are a few key findings.

1. For people who are employed, earnings remained flat during and after the recession (after adjusting for inflation). That continues a pattern that started years ago.

2. But during and after the recession, the number of people who were working fell sharply, as millions of jobs disappeared.

3. With fewer people working, median household income has fallen.

For More: The Census Bureau report also includes a section on the poverty rate, which rose to 15.1 percent last year — the highest level since 1993. Here's a story from the AP.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jacob Goldstein
Jacob Goldstein is an NPR correspondent and co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He is the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.

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