For a brief period during the pandemic, workers had power. Once the shutdowns ended and the economy rebounded, low-wage workers in many industries were able to negotiate better pay. Meanwhile, a boost in government spending—on stimulus checks as well as improved social benefits—helped keep more families out of poverty. After decades of widening income inequality, it looked like things were finally moving in the right direction. But any hopes that this reversal would last were dashed by the Census Bureau on Tuesday.
Every year in September, the bureau releases data on income, poverty, and health insurance from the previous year, and Tuesday’s release showed that real median incomes for the lowest- and middle-income households stayed mostly flat in 2024 compared to 2023, and that Black Americans’ incomes dropped. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the job growth numbers for the 12 months ending March 2025, revealing that there were 911,000 fewer jobs added that year—roughly half as many as previously reported.
So the economy last year was worse for many families than previously thought. And it’s looking to be even worse next year.
The Census Bureau’s annual numbers provide the fullest picture we have of how American families are doing financially, especially when it comes to workers. Tuesday’s report showed that incomes increased by 4.2 percent for the highest-earning households in the 90th percentile, while incomes for families at the bottom and in the middle merely kept pace with inflation. Inequality in the United States, then, continues to widen.
Puzzlingly, earnings for full-time, year-round workers without a high school diploma grew by 6.6 percent, a significant amount. That means that some of the increases in wages are translating to more pay for some workers at the very bottom of the economic ladder. But median household incomes for families headed by a worker without a high school diploma did not rise over the same period. Which means that there’s something happening within households that isn’t helping that higher pay translate into better financial footing for families.
Part of it could be that women are dropping out of the labor force or working fewer hours than in previous years. “I think a lot of it comes down to this question of household composition and which workers are coming and going from the labor force,” said Amanda Nothaft, director of data and analysis at Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. “The shortages post-pandemic pulled people into [the labor force], but as the reality of making ends meet settled in, it may be that women cut back their hours or exited altogether,” because they couldn’t afford child care, she said.
“Women who might leave the labor force for child rearing or taking paid leave only make 76 cents compared to a man’s dollar,” said Lorena Roque, director of education, labor, and worker justice at the Center for Law and Social Policy. “Not having affordable child care, not having paid family medical leave—we’re seeing those gaps are widening, and they still exist.”
For women who do work full time, their earnings compared to men dropped for the second year in a row: the female-to-male earnings ratio dropped to 80.9 percent from 82.7 percent. (Median annual earnings for full-time women workers was $57,520 and for men it was $71,090, with men increasing their earnings faster than women.) The Institute of Women’s Policy Research said it was the biggest drop in the earnings ratio since 1966. Black and Latina women are hit especially hard by the earnings gap, and households headed by women do worse, too.
These top-level numbers from the Census Bureau look at all workers in the economy, which means they obscure some of the details we find when we dig into specific companies. An Institute for Policy Studies report from earlier this year showed that CEO pay at some of the biggest low-wage employers in the country—like Walmart, Starbuck’s, and DoorDash—has increased while the median annual earnings for their workers hasn’t even kept up with inflation. Those workers had made short-term gains in 2022 and 2023, but their earnings leveled off in 2024. Hourly workers in those jobs often have little control over their schedules and may not be able to work as many hours as they would like.
All of this covers the final year of President Joe Biden’s administration, and shows that families were struggling even while they were fighting for higher wages, the stock market was soaring, and other signs were pointing to a healthy economy. “People who are employed are running to catch up with the changes in the economy and inflation, and they’re not keeping pace with the people at the top,” Nothaft said.
The census numbers can only hint at what’s going on for low-income and middle-income families, but they paint a picture. They show that any gains made by workers during the pandemic have slowed down or stopped. Those who face discrimination in the labor force, especially Black and Latino workers, are still not sharing equally in the economy. Women continue to earn less than men, and women from low-income families with lower levels of education might find that it’s not even worth it to work, because child care is too expensive and they can’t earn enough to make it worth it.
These are the hardships families were feeling when they went to the polls last November, even if we didn’t have the numbers to show it yet. It helps explain why many pulled the lever for President Donald Trump, citing the economy as their top issue. Economic statistics were trumpeting a booming economy, but families knew they were falling behind.
But it doesn’t explain why they thought Trump would do a better job. Monthly jobs reports since he took office have shown that job growth has drastically slowed. Trump’s mass deportation force, which is raiding construction sites, farms, and factories, might slow economic growth and wage growth even more. Women, especially Black women, are being pushed out of the labor force. Mothers are leaving too, which makes the MAGA folks happy. At the same time, cuts to safety-net programs and Medicaid in the Republicans’ big budget bill are likely to cause more hardship. If only there were a political party ready to fight for them.
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