Income for poorest Americans fell faster than previously thought

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/469040-income-for-poorest-americans-fell-faster-than-previously-thought-study

By Niv Elis - 11/05/19 12:52 PM EST

The poorest Americans saw their income decline 7 percent over the past 15 years, while everyone else gained financially, according to a new study.

Real income for low-income Americans fell more than 7 percent between 2004 and 2018, in part because of rising costs for items and services purchased by those Americans, according to the report published by the Groundwork Collaborative and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy (CPSP) at Columbia University.

“Given strong evidence that low-income families in America are paying higher prices and living in poverty in higher numbers than official metrics account for, this is a major problem,” said co-authors Christopher Wimer, co-director of CPSP; Sophie Collyer, a policy analyst at the center; and Xavier Jaravel, an assistant professor at the London School of Economics.

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