Economy: Household incomes are still down 4.4% since the recession ended four years ago. Meanwhile, the unemployment picture may be even worse than we think. The Obama "recovery" continues to impress.
According to a report released this week by Sentier Research, the inflation-adjusted median household income remains $2,380 below where it stood when the Obama "recovery" officially started in June 2009 — a drop of 4.4%.
Sentier's monthly data, derived from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, show that incomes fell more in the year after the recovery started than it did during the recession itself. And household incomes have basically flat-lined ever since.
"As the unemployment rate and the duration of unemployment remained high," the authors note, "median annual household income continued its decline."
The picture gets even grimmer the deeper you dive into the data. The most vulnerable groups — blacks, Hispanics, female-headed families and the young — have fared far worse under Obama than everyone else.
Black households' median income has plunged 11% since the "recovery" started. Hispanic households are off 4.5%. For single moms, median household income dropped 7.5%. For those households with three or more children, it fell even more — 9.2%.
When Sentier broke its data down, every age group lost ground — except senior citizens. Those aged 65 to 74 saw median income climb 5.1% from June 2009 to June 2013. Those 75 and older enjoyed a 2.1% gain.
Creating an economy where only retirees collecting government checks are getting ahead is not exactly a recipe for increasing prosperity.
And all this despite the fact that more homes are headed by those with at least some college education. Sentier found the number of householders with an associate's degree shot up almost 15% during Obama's recovery, while those with a bachelor's rose more than 10%.
(Someone on Obama's team ought to point this out to him before he spends more taxpayer money traveling to colleges to decry how unaffordable college is.)
Also this week, we learned that Gallup's unemployment measure jumped to 8.6% versus 7.7% four weeks ago. The share of underemployed climbed to 17.7%. And the payroll-to-population ratio dropped to an unsustainable 43.8%, from 63.5% in January 2010.
We keep hearing economists say the economy is "firming up" and it's poised for growth soon. What we see instead is an economy that, thanks to this administration's misguided policies, has fallen and can't get up.
Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/082213-668484-household-incomes-still-way-down-under-obama-recovery.htm#ixzz2coSNdMr4
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