Analysis: U.S. Incomes Fall More During Obama Years

(Newsroom America) -- A new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data found that Americans' incomes fell more in the three years since the 2009 recovery began than during the longest recession in U.S. history, a period coinciding with Barack Obama's election to the presidency.

The analysis, by Sentier Research LLC, found that median household income fell 4.8 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis since the recession ended in June 2009, which was more than the 2.6 percent decline during the 18-month economic contraction, the firm's Gordon Green and John Coder write in a report Thursday, the details of which were reported by Bloomberg News.

The report said household income has fallen 7.2 percent below the 2007 level, according to the former Census Bureau statisticians.

"Almost every group is worse off than it was three years ago, and some groups had very large declines in income," said Green, who once led work on the Census Bureau’s income and poverty statistics program, in an interview with Bloomberg. "We’re in an unprecedented period of economic stagnation."

Though small gains in hourly earnings and average hours worked per week likely had "a minor mitigating effect" on declining income levels, they could not offset unemployment, which has been above 8 percent since February 2009 and a record duration of joblessness, the report said.

Labor Department data show that average periods of unemployment increased to 41 weeks in November, and remains high at 39 weeks currently. At present, some 5.2 million Americans have been out of work for six months or longer.

The report said real median household income fell from $54,916 to $53,508 during the recession period from December 2007 to June 2009, according to the study of income data for the 36-month period ending June 2012.

Incomes continued to fall during the period, declining to $50,964 in June of this year, the report said.

The nation's stubborn unemployment rates have been used by Republicans and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney to criticize Obama's policies, which they say have burdened small businesses and corporations alike with new taxes and regulations that have killed jobs and stunted growth.

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