Household incomes surged last year in the US, suggesting American middle class fortunes are improving in defiance of the dark rhetoric that has dominated the presidential campaign.
Real median household income rose 5.2 per cent between 2014 and 2015, the first gain since 2007, pushing it to $56,516, the Census Bureau said. It was the first time that inflation-adjusted growth exceeded 5 per cent since records began in 1967. The increase was fuelled by a strengthening labour market and higher wages, coupled with persistently subdued inflation.
Recent political debate in the US has been dominated by the story of long-term income stagnation, with analysts attributing the rise of Republican candidate Donald Trump in part to the shrinking of America’s middle class, rising inequality and the impact of globalisation on incomes. Yesterday’s strong numbers, which cover the year in which Mr Trump launched his campaign, cast that narrative in a new light.