According to economists, the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009 and since then the United States has been in a period of economic recovery. However, the recession didn’t really end for most Americans, as poll after poll has revealed large numbers of U.S. citizens are despondent about the economy and the direction of the country. Now a new set of numbers helps explain why so many people feel this way.

 

Between June 2009, the alleged end of the Great Recession, and June 2011, household incomes fell by 6.7%, to an average of $49,909, according to a study by two former Census Bureau officials, Gordon Green and John Coder.

 

What is most remarkable about this statistic is that incomes fell even more after the recession than during the downturn. From December 2007 to June 2009, the period marking the recession, household income fell only 3.2%.

 

Things have been going downhill, in fact, for the last four years. From June 2007 to June of this year, median annual household income for Caucasians dropped 7.8%, to $56,320, and by 6.8% for Hispanics, to $39,901. For African-Americans, the decline was 9.2%, to $31,784.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Recession Officially Over, U.S. Incomes Kept Falling (by Robert Pear, New York Times)

Household Income Trends During the Recession and Economic Recovery (Sentier Research) (pdf)

Recession Recovery Boosted Profits … but Not Wages (AllGov)

Income Inequality in U.S. Reaches Record High (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)