Income dropped, poverty soared under Biden: Census Bureau

Despite the Biden administration's efforts to tout the alleged successes of "Bidenomics," a report from the United States Census Bureau has revealed that many Americans saw their economic situation deteriorate dramatically in the first half of Biden's term.

While the official poverty rate hovered around 11.5% in both 2021 and 2022, according to the report, the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) increased 4.6% in 2022 to reach 12.4%, marking the first overall increase in that metric since 2010. In total, 37.9 million Americans lived in poverty in 2022. The report partially attributed the increase to the expiration of tax credits credits and pandemic stimulus payments.

Income, meanwhile, dropped across an array of metrics. Real median household income declined by 2.3% from $76,330 to $74,580, while real median earnings of all workers dropped 2.2%. The drop was less severe among full-time, year-round workers, who saw a 1.3% decline. Inflation soared 7.8% from 2021 to 2022, marking the largest single-year increase in cost of living since 1981.

The Census Bureau statement follows some other bad economic news for the president. The unemployment rate in August rose from 3.5% to 3.8% while inflation ticked up to 3.2%, marking the first increase after a consistent, year-long decline.

Biden has repeatedly insisted that economic conditions are improving in the United States and has consistently attributed the nominal upswing to his policies. Americans, however, appear skeptical of that assertion, with 37.8% approving of his handling of the economy in the RealClearPolitics polling average, compared to 58.9% who disapprove.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.