The recession has battered living standards

Posted Sep 11th 2009 4:40PM by Connie Madon
Filed under: Employees, Market Matters, Money and Finance Today, Economic Data, Personal Finance, Recession, Financial Crisis

The Census Bureau has completed a survey of living standards in the US as of 2008. Keep in mind that these numbers do not reflect the added damage done to families during the current year.

As you might expect, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Here are some numbers in the survey:

Among the rich, the "best off" 5% got 21.5% of income up from 21.2% a year earlier.
50% of all income went to the top fifth of our incomes.

The rest of us got poorer.

Median incomes fell 3.6% to $50,303 year over year, the steepest drop in 40 years.
The poverty rate increase to 13.2%
People covered by government insurance rose by 4.4 million because of a loss of health care benefits.
The "working poor" rose by 2.6 million
Poverty age 18 and 64 grew 11.7& for 10.9%
Children are the worst off. with a poverty rate of 19% (poverty is defined as an income lower that $22,000 per year for a family of four.)
There was a 40% surge in food stamps.
54 million are under 125% of the poverty line, 3 million more than 2007.
Among race groups the largest drop in incomes lost was for Hispanics, - 5.6%. Next were Asians, -4.4%, followed by blacks -2.8% and non Hispanic whites -2.6%
Men fared better than women. Male incomes fell 1% to $46,367, while female incomes fell 1.9% to $36,745.

When this year's carnage is added to these numbers the damage will be staggering. Unemployment is pushing 10% and 1.3 million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits this year, with more to come next year.

Will the US economy bounce back this year?

Tags: 2008 Census Bureau survey, 2008CensusBureauSurvey, inthenews

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-11-2009 @ 8:39PM

al coholic said...

The boomers retirement will signal the end of the middle class in America. We have been the true sandwich generation, supporting our adult children while housing and caring for our parents at the same time.

Except at the Casino we call the Stock Market where the 30% increase this year is insanely optimistic there is no recovery in sight from what I can see.

9-12-2009 @ 3:47AM

ronandlane said...

Did someone out there say that we might no longer be in a recession.
This is the porblem with the world today. Special interests out there would have us believe that the problem is fixed and we can go back to the way things were.
Let's get real for a moment. Many who have returned to work have returned to jobs paying much less than they were previously receiving. In addition many workers have had their hours cut and many have just plain given up. I don't know of any of my neighbors who feel that things have improved. The only profession I see in my area that seems to be holding its own is the medical profession.
Heck if we eat any more fast food we will be needing health care sooner than ever before.
We are in deep doo doo no matter what the pundits would try and have us beleive.

9-12-2009 @ 4:55AM

Dan said...

Stop bitching. Sh*t happens. Just deal with it.

9-12-2009 @ 9:06AM

Greg Young said...

Apparently Dan is in that Top 5% that doesnt care about the other 95% of us, because his life is just swell. Typical

9-12-2009 @ 3:05PM

thedude said...

I keep seeing people buying foreign made cars and goods and wondering why the government doesn't create more jobs. Too funny.

I'm with Dan on this

If you can't afford to feed yourself you probably shouldn't have knocked up your girlfriend.

The poor continue to breed themselves into further poverty. NOT MY FAULT. Just because I'm smart enough to live within my means and actually create my own income doesn't mean I should be responsible for creating the income of some addict who is too stupid to wear a condom.

The rich will always get richer because they are smarter (or at least smart enough to negotiate a good pay package) The poor will continue to get poorer because they spend more time avoiding work rather than putting in a full 12 hrs 7/52 like I do.

I've been debt free since 1992 and could retire today at 41 if I chose to do so.

People create their own standard of living and it shouldn't be the taxpayers responsibility for bailing out those overextenders.

Live within your means and be happy doing so