Household Income Posts Big Drops Since 2009H

Household Income Posts Big Drops Since 2009


Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, October 11, 2011



The recession officially ended in June 2009, but the big dent to most households’ pocketbook didn’t happen until the years following it, according to a new study.

Household income has posted some of its biggest drops in the last two years, moreso than during the recession itself, according to the study by two former Census Bureau officials.

From June 2009 to June 2011, median household income dropped 6.7 percent to $49,909. Yet, during the recession (December 2007 to June 2009), household income fell only 3.2 percent.

In total, household income has dropped 9.8 percent since the start of recession to June of 2011 -- the largest drop in decades.

There has been “a significant reduction in the American standard of living,” wrote Gordon W. Green Jr., who wrote the report.

Since the recession and beyond, the number of unemployed persons has risen and the hourly pay of employed people has not kept up with the pace of inflation, the authors note.

Source: “Recession Officially Over, U.S. Incomes Kept Falling,” The New York Times (Oct. 9, 2011)