Paul Overberg and John McCormick:
Americans as a whole have experienced two years in a row of flat or declining household income, new government data showed Tuesday, reflecting the pandemic’s lingering economic pain as inflation is also taking the largest bite out of pocketbooks in four decades.
The lack of any real growth for 2021 follows a decrease in incomes recorded in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Totals in 2020 and 2021 were boosted by significant government spending in response to the pandemic that helped reduce poverty.