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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.

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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.

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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.