‘US incomes drop more after recession’

Average household incomes in the United States have dropped more since after the recession, than during the economic downturn itself, a new study shows.

The study, conducted by two former US Census Bureau officials, revealed that inflation-adjusted incomes declined by 6.7 percent between June 2009 and June 2011, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

This is while, during the recession, from December 2007 to June 2009, household incomes dropped by only 3.2 percent.

The decline was described by the study as “a significant reduction in the American standard of living.”

It further suggested that the new findings could help clarify the growing mistrust citizens of the US feel towards their political system and their politicians’ management of the economy.

In addition, a report released last month by the Census Bureau showed that the country’s poverty rate reached 15.1 percent in 2010, the highest level the US has seen since 1993.

The report showed that some 46.2 million US citizens were living below the country’s poverty threshold in 2010.

This marks the fourth consecutive year in which poverty has increased.

A movement meanwhile emerged on September 17 in New York, when a group of anti-corporate demonstrators sought to occupy the city’s financial district, to protest against top-level corruption, poverty as well as social inequality in the US.

The movement, originally called “Occupy Wall Street” has now spread to 1,196 cities across the country, the website of occupytogether.org reports.