Minimum wage fight: Raise it or not?, By Alicia Stice, September 23, 2016, The Coloradoan: “When an unexpected expense comes up — like the time her 9-year-old black lab, Libby, racked up a $700 vet bill — Lauren Gutierrez knows it’s time to pick up extra shifts. In Fort Collins where she grew up, Gutierrez cannot afford to live alone. This semester, she dropped two of her classes at Front Range Community College because the full course load was too much to handle along with her long shifts working as a caregiver for elderly residents. Living as a low-wage worker has inspired Gutierrez to volunteer for the campaign to raise Colorado’s minimum wage from $8.31 an hour to $12 an hour by 2020, with increases every year in between…”
Tag: Income
American Community Survey
- Wisconsin incomes up, poverty down, By Kevin Crowe and Bill Glauber, September 14, 2016, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Mirroring national figures, median income in Wisconsin grew for the first time in eight years, while poverty declined slightly in 2015, according to data released Thursday from the U.S. Census Bureau. Still, poverty kept a tight grip on the city of Milwaukee, which had the third-highest poverty rate among the 50 largest cities in the United States…”
- Syracuse’s poverty rate remains among worst in nation, Census finds, By Mark Weiner, September 15, 2016, Syracuse Post-Standard: “One in two children in Syracuse lives in poverty in a city that now ranks as the 29th poorest in America, according to new data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau…”
- Chicago area’s poverty rate declined in 2015 as incomes rose, By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz, September 15, 2016, Chicago Tribune: “The Chicago metro area had nearly 52,000 fewer people living in poverty in 2015 than it did the year before, following national trends as its poverty rate dropped and household incomes rose — though the economic improvements locally were not as vigorous as national averages…”
- Ohio incomes increase, poverty decreases, Census Bureau reports, By Rich Exner, September 15, 2016, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Income is up in Ohio and poverty is down, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday, after reporting earlier this week the same trends nationally. In Ohio, the median household income rose 3.5 percent to $51,075, a little below the national level for 2015. The change included an adjustment for inflation…”
- Poverty falls as incomes rise in Colorado, but rent hikes outpace gains, By Aldo Svaldi, September 15, 2016, Denver Post: “Coloradans earned more money last year and continued to escape poverty in a significant way, but they also paid out much more in rent, according to an update Thursday from the U.S. Census Bureau. ‘For the most part, these statistics tell a positive story about the Colorado economy,’ Broomfield economist Gary Horvath said…”
- New Orleans poverty rates fall in 2015, still higher than state average, By Kevin Litten, September 15, 2016, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “The number of people living in poverty in New Orleans fell over the past year, according to U.S. Census data, although nearly a quarter of city residents are still poor. The median income of families across the city grew, with a slight uptick in wage earnings occurring among black families. In 2015, they earned a median income of $26,819, up just over $1,000 from 2014, when it was $25,806…”
- Florida incomes up a bit, poverty down a bit, but state lags country by a lot, By Andres Viglucci and Mary Ellen Klas, September 15, 2016, Miami Herald: “Floridians got a modest raise and poverty dropped slightly across the state last year, but Florida still lags the rest of the country in those key economic measures, new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show. The figures paint a mixed picture for Florida and depict an uneven economic recovery across the nation…”
Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015
- Median incomes are up and poverty rate is down, surprisingly strong census figures show, By Don Lee, September 13, 2016, Los Angeles Times: “The economic recovery is finally providing relief to America’s long-running problem of stagnant middle-class incomes. The Census Bureau’s unexpectedly-rosy annual report on poverty and incomes, released Tuesday, showed the biggest improvement in decades on both fronts…”
- Middle class incomes had their fastest growth on record last year, By Jim Tankersley, September 13, 2016, Washington Post: “Middle-class Americans and the poor enjoyed their best year of economic improvement in decades in 2015, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, a spike that broke a years-long streak of disappointment for American workers but did not fully repair the damage inflicted by the Great Recession…”
- The middle class gets a big raise … finally!, By Tami Luhby, September 13, 2016, CNN Money: “After years of watching their incomes go nowhere, America’s middle class finally got a big raise last year. Median household income rose to $56,516 in 2015, up 5.2% from a year earlier, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday. It marks the first increase in median income since 2007, the year before the Great Recession started…”
- U.S. household income grew 5.2 percent in 2015, breaking pattern of stagnation, By Binyamin Appelbaum, September 13, 2016, New York Times: “Americans last year reaped the largest economic gains in nearly a generation as poverty fell, health insurance coverage spread and incomes rose sharply for households on every rung of the economic ladder, ending years of stagnation…”
- Has the American economy hit a turning point?, By Deirdre Fernandes and Evan Horowitz, September 13, 2016, Boston Globe: “Middle-class Americans finally got a raise in 2015. And it was a big one. After years of glacial economic growth and stagnant wages, median household income jumped 5 percent, or nearly $3,000, from 2014, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. That’s the first meaningful increase since 2007 and the biggest bounce on record, offering fresh evidence that this economic recovery is now reaching a broader swath of American workers…”
- Americans got raise last year for first time since 2007, By Christopher Rugaber and Jesse J. Holland (AP), September 13, 2016, Miami Herald: “In a long-awaited sign that middle-class Americans are finally seeing real economic gains, U.S. households got a raise last year after seven years of stagnant incomes. Rising pay also lifted the poorest households, cutting poverty by the sharpest amount in nearly a half-century…”
- Things are getting a lot better for the working poor, By Max Ehrenfreund, September 13, 2016, Washington Post: “Last year marked the greatest improvement in the typical American family’s finances on record, according to a new annual report from the Census Bureau, especially for the working poor…”