Poverty Leveled Off Last Year, Even as Incomes Dropped
The share of Americans in poverty in 2011 remained unchanged for
the first time in four years, the Census Bureau reported on
Wednesday, surprising economists who had expected the rate to
rise yet again. Still, the report showed a decline in the incomes
of middle-class Americans, offering a reminder that many American
families have yet to experience gains from the weak economic
recovery. Median household income, adjusted for inflation, was
$50,054 last year, officials said, a decrease of 1.5 percent from
2010. The level was about 8 percent lower than in 2007, the year
before the recession began. The measure peaked in 1999, when the
median income for American households reached $53,252.