Inflation caused real incomes in the United States to fall in 2022 despite a 2.3% increase in wages, the Census Bureau said Tuesday, and poverty soared as government aid during the pandemic expired.
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“Historically high inflation has led to a decline in real median household income,” said Liana Fox, a Census Bureau employee, during an online news conference. This came to $47,960.
The official poverty rate remained stable at 11.5% compared to last year, meaning 37.9 million people live on less than $14,880 a year, or $29,950 for a family of four.
But another measurement shows a completely different reality.
This, also released Tuesday by the Census Bureau, adjusts the income below which a person is considered poor, specifically taking into account government benefits, child care costs and medical expenses.
A family of four who rents out their home must then have an annual income of at least $34,518 to escape poverty.
Accordingly, the poverty rate rose for the first time since 2010, rising from 7.8% to 12.4% between 2021 and 2022. That of children has even more than doubled and rose to 12.4%; in 2021 it was 5.2%, a historic low.
This difference “reflects the expiration of tax credits and stimulus measures related to the pandemic,” explained Liana Fox.
She emphasized that “6.4 million people were lifted out of poverty thanks to tax credits.” Among them, 3.5 million were children.
US President Joe Biden denounced in a statement the “disastrous consequences of Republicans in Congress refusing to extend the tax credit for (families with) children while at the same time proposing costly tax cuts for large corporations.”
For the Democrat, who is seeking a second term in the White House, “today’s reported increase in child poverty is no coincidence: It is the result of a conscious policy decision made by Republicans in Congress.”
“No child should grow up in poverty, and I will continue to fight to restore the child tax credit to give tens of millions of families the tax relief and financial flexibility they deserve,” he pledged.