New data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that, despite overall increases in household income for Americans since last year, the nation’s poverty rate has essentially stagnated. The median U.S. household income rose by 1.8 percent from 2016 to 2017 ― from $60,309 to $61,372, Census Bureau figures released Wednesday show. The data also revealed that, although household income has improved overall for Americans, the situation for America’s poor has remained unchanged. The nation’s official poverty rate dipped only slightly in 2017, from 12.7 percent of Americans living in poverty in 2016 to 12.3 percent in 2017, a drop of just 0.4 percentage point. This stagnation came after several years of significant declines in the poverty rate: Since 2014, it has fallen 2.5 percentage points, from 14.8 percent to 12.3 percent.

Source: Huffington Post September 12, 2018 22:18 UTC