Census Bureau: The Middle Class and Poor Have Not Gained Ground

The most striking number in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Sept. 17 report on income and poverty isn’t about poverty. It’s about middle-class, working America.

According to the Census, American men who work full time year-round earned less in real terms in 2012 than they did in 1973. So much for a rising tide lifting all boats. Gross domestic product has nearly tripled since 1973, when President Richard Nixon was still flashing his V sign, but the gains have gone mostly to the people at the top. Last year, the Census report shows, men who worked full time year-round had median earnings of $49,398. That’s a decline of 4 percent from 1973, adjusted for inflation. “We’ve had 40 years of stagnation,” says Sheldon Danziger, the new president of the Russell Sage Foundation, which funds research on improving living conditions in the U.S. “Things just don’t trickle down,” he says. “If the full-time, full-year male workers aren’t benefiting from economic growth, why should we expect the poor to be?” SOURCE: Bloomberg Business Week