Maybe Moving Up

Then again, maybe not

   Median household income in America jumped by 5.2 percent last year, the first increase since before the Great Recession, the Census Bureau announced.
   Meanwhile, both the poverty rate and the percentage of people without health insurance declined, the government said.
   This, of course, is no consolation to those whose income did not rise, or for those still living in poverty and without health insurance. But on a broad national level, the numbers do show overall improvement. And taken with other reports recently, it would seem that maybe the economy is indeed growing.
   Then again, maybe not.

   The latest government data show median household income last year of $56,516, up 5.2 percent from $53,718 in 2014. The official poverty rate, according to the Census report, was 13.5 percent, with 43.1 million Americans in poverty. That's 3.5 million fewer people than in 2014, and represented the biggest annual percentage point drop since 1999.
   More people also have health insurance, the report said, as the percentage of those without it during 2015 fell to 9.1 percent from 10.4 percent in 2014. The number of people without health insurance was 29 million, down from 33 million.
   In all, recovery from the Great Recession is still underway, slow though it is and with several warning flags still waving, especially in a world context.
   New reports are due in the next few days, and they may well reinforce the positive news signaled recently.
   Then again, they may not.