Report finds decline in household income, rise in poverty rate | Monday Morning Coffee

Good Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

Welcome to the last Monday of Summer!

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau released last week is shedding new light on economic and social changes in American households.

According to the 2021 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, the median household income decreased 2.9 percent from 2019 to 2020. 

The median household income was $67,521 in 2020, according to the Bureau, down from the 2019 median of $69,560.

The decrease, the Bureau said, is the first statistically significant decline in median household income since 2011.

“Pennsylvanians are not out of the dark yet. Families here continue to face difficult choices about how to put food on the table, pay rent, and hold down jobs given the risks and complexities created by the delta variant,” Marc Stier, Director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center said. “Our federal and state policymakers cannot turn a blind eye to this continued hardship, especially in Black, Latino, Indigenous, and immigrant communities.”

(U.S. Census Bureau graphic).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The decline in income wasn’t the only noteworthy finding.

The official poverty rate increased by a percentage point over the year from 33.9 million in 2019 to 37.2 million in 2020.

According to the Bureau, the increase is the first following five years of decline.

Our stuff

In this week’s Numbers Racket: Slim majority sees discussion reckoning over racial history as a positive

On the Commentary Page: Rev. Dr. Wayne M. Weathers writes: It is time to embrace climate change as a moral and spiritual challenge of unparalleled import and Rebecca Watts discusses Second Chance Pell Grant barriers.

ICYMI: 

Stephen Caruso reports: Pa. Senate Democrats file suit to block GOP subpoenas in 2020 election investigation

From the D.C. Bureau’s Laura Olson: How House Democrats would expand Medicare and Medicaid and lower prescription drug costs

From our partners at the Philadelphia Gay News: 10 years after ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’ a new world for LGBTQ servicemembers

New In Estrella-Capital: ‘Somos más fuertes juntos’: El Mes de la Herencia Hispana comienza en Pa. con un enfoque en el futuro

And

Un informe revela que 2 millones de residentes de Pa. lucharon contra la inseguridad alimenticia durante la pandemia

Elsewhere

Lehigh Valley will be home to dozens of Afghan allies and refugees, the Morning Call reports. 

Emergency permits necessary to staff Scranton classrooms. The Scranton-Times has the story. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports: Rural Pa. counties saw big losses in 2020 Census and some don’t believe it

From the York Daily Record via Lebanon Daily News: WellSpan says there’s proof that this surge of COVID patients was ‘completely avoidable’

Here’s your #Pennsylvania Instagram of the day

(Image via Instagram).

What Goes On

10 a.m., Rivas Deli Grocery II in York CountyGov. Tom Wolf will ​visit the location of an upcoming public vaccination clinic in York County.

Heavy Rotation

Looking for the latest new music? Check out NPR’s New Music playlist on Spotify.

Penn Capital-Star Readers

The Penn Capital-Star Readers group on Goodreads has started reading “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson. Join us here. 



Originally published at www.penncapital-star.com,by Cassie Miller

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