The 4th Anniversary of the Economic Recovery

So how are we doing? That's the question asked by Sentier Research in its review of our economic status on the 4th anniversary of the end of the Great Recession, from June 2009 through June 2013.

The answer is we're doing better, but we're still behind. Median household income in June 2013 was above the low point of August 2011, but still 4.4 percent below the median of June 2009. In other words, rather than experiencing a rebound in income during the so-called economic recovery, we experienced a post-recession decline, and now we're crawling our way out of that. Take a look at the trend in median household income (all in June 2013 dollars):

Median household income
$55,480 at the start of the Great Recession in December 2007
$54,478 at the end of the Great Recession in June 2009
$50,722 at the low point in August 2011
$52,098 as of June 2013

Sentier's report analyzes the socioeconomics of the post-recession struggle to recover, examining changes in household income between 2009 and 2013 by a variety of demographics such as household type, age of householder, educational attainment, race and Hispanic origin, number of earners, and region. One striking finding: of the 46 demographic segments analyzed by Sentier, only one segment experienced a statistically significant increase in median household income between 2009 and 2013. The single exception was households headed by people aged 65 to 74, their median income climbing 5.1 percent during those years.

Source: Sentier Research, Household Income on the Fourth Anniversary of the Economic Recovery: June 2009 to June 2013