US Median Household Income Lower Than Year 2000 - Decreases Dramatically After 2009 Stimulus

In January of 2000 the median annual household income was at $55,962.
December 2007 it was $55,480 (dropped about $500 in 7 years)
In June of 2009 it was $54,478
August 2011 it was at an all time low of $50,722
And today it stands at $52,098

At the bottom of the Sentier report you will see that the primary decline started in early 2009 and has never recovered. What is perplexing is that Obama's stimulus was signed into law in Feb. 2009, which is shortly after his arrival into the oval office. This coincides with the sudden drop in median income. So what would explain this? I would have thought the opposite effect would have occurred.

I know Obama has been talking stimulus again, but after seeing this chart, is this a wise decision?



Here is the official press release of the report:

Sentier - PRESS RELEASE Household Income Down by 4.4 Percent Overall Post Recession -- Many Groups with Larger Income Declines

My own theory relates to the unemployment rate. See how unemployment has supposedly fallen? It's been shown that the lowered unemployment rate is due to people now working low paying part time jobs, often more than one. It has also dropped because a number of people who might still be unemployed are no longer counted on the Department of Labor's rolls.

Sure, there has been a great increase in jobs....low paying, minimum wage part time jobs, which are going to bring down the overall income of many households.

reply to post by elouina


I'd assume that's median gross income, not median net. All Obama's (non corporate lackey) stimulu package did was cut the Social Security contribution rate for employees. Those employees' before tax salaries did nothing creditable to that "stimulus."

Unrelated to the stimulus, these salaries continue to plummet thanks to all the "Obamajobs" that have been created which are part time or minimum wage service sector jobs that bring the median down very rapidly.

reply to post by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf


Not only is unemployment higher than stated, wages are lower than stated. If you removed the top 3% of earners the average income of Americans falls dramatically. The ultra wealthy have enough income to cause a distortion of several percentage points.