We may technically be in a recovery, but it sure doesn't feel like it.
Median annual income has declined 4.8 percent from $53,508 to $50,964 since the recovery technically began in June 2009 , according to a new study from Sentier Research. That's nearly double the 2.6 percent drop during the recession.
One especially hard-hit group: Americans aged 55 to 64, who saw their annual income drop nearly 10 percent. But African-Americans have felt the pain the most during the recovery as their incomes declined 11 percent.
“Based on our data, almost every group is worse off now than it was three years ago,” Gordon Green, co-author of the report, wrote in a press release.
Household median income has fallen since the recovery:
However, there are some groups that have actually been faring better since the beginning of the recovery; Americans over 65 saw their income levels rise. And though recent trends may be disheartening, Americans' incomes have been increasing over the past 50 years, the NYT points out.
Still, another recent report has shown that America's middle class has been shrinking since 2008. A poll taken that year found that 53 percent of Americans considered themselves in the middle class. Now only 49 percent do.
But these two recent reports aren't the only ones with gloomy news about Americans' earnings. In 2010, the annual median wage fell to its lowest level since 1999 at $26,364, according to David Cay Johnston at Reuters. Real wages also fell last year, even as corporate profits reached record highs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Income has fallen especially for certain demographics:
(Hat tip: Los Angeles Times)
