In This Issue
2016 Income and Poverty in the U.S.
2017 Distressed Communities Index
New Study Supports Expanding Earned Income Tax Credit
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Issue: #496

October 9, 2017  

The Census Information Center of Eastern Oklahoma, a program of the  provides access to data generated from the U.S. Census Bureau.

2016 Income and Poverty in the United States

From: U.S. Census Bureau

This report presents data
on income, earnings, income inequality, and poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2017 and earlier Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Income Statistics
  • Median household income was $59,039 in 2016, an increase in real terms of 3.2% from the 2015 median
    of $57,230. This is the second consecutive annual increase in median household income.
  • For family households, real median income of married-couple households and households maintained by women with no husband present increased 1.6%
    percent and 7.2% between 2015 and 2016, respectively.
  • The real median income of non-Hispanic White, Black and Hispanic-origin households increased 2%, 5.7%
    and 4.3%, respectively, between 2015 and 2016. This
    is the second annual increase in median household income for non-Hispanic White, Black and Hispanic-origin households. For Asian households, the 2015 to 2016 percentage change in real median income was not statistically significant. (The differences between the 2015-2016 percentage changes in median income for non-Hispanic White, Black, Hispanic and Asian
    households were not statistically significant.)
  • Real median household income increased for the South (3.9%) and the West (3.3%) between 2015 and 2016, while the changes for the Northeast and Midwest were not statistically significant. (The difference between the 2015-2016 percentage changes in median income for households in all regions were not statistically significant.)

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2017 Distressed Communities Index
From: U.S. Census Bureau

The Distressed Communities Index (DCI) is a tool for measuring the vitality of U.S. communities. This 2017 report examines place-based disparities in the American economic experience and assesses the relationship between them and a host of other important factors, such as health outcomes, public assistance spending, demographics, and educational attainment.

New Study Supports Expanding Earned Income Tax Credit
From: Stanford Social Innovation Review

Critics of government safety net programs often describe them as if they were opiates, addictive and debilitating. They claim that SNAP coupons, Medicaid, and other income support programs increase dependence on government aid and minimize a recipient's desire to work and be self-supporting. From this perspective, the best thing government can to do help those struggling for economic survival is leave them to the magical power of the marketplace, rewarding hard work and punishing laggards.

Beginning in 2013, New York, followed a year later by Atlanta, has been part of a pilot project designed to test these assumptions. We now have results from an evaluation of the New York City experience that might change some minds.
The program, Paycheck Plus, was designed, according to NYC officials, to allow "rigorous testing [of] a new earnings supplement for low-income single adults-mostly men-with the goal of promoting work and reducing poverty."

Until Next Week,

Melanie Poulter
Census Information Center of Eastern Oklahoma
       


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