Today’s Census Bureau report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in 2013 shows that real median household income increased more among Latino (+$1,391) and African American (+$793) households than white households (+$433), but declined for Asian households (-$2,568). Between 2012 and 2013, the black-white income gap has narrowed from 58.4 cents for every dollar of white median household income to 59.4 cents for every dollar of white median household income. The Hispanic-white income gap has also narrowed from 68.4 to 70.3 cents on the dollar. This is fairly consistent with the modest labor market gains made by African Americans and Latinos in 2013. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2012 and 2013, the share of employed adults increased for each of these populations while the share for whites remained unchanged. Despite these relative improvements, real median household incomes for all groups remain well below their 2007 levels. Between 2007 and 2013, median household incomes declined by 9.2 percent (-$3,506) for African Americans, 5.7 percent (-$2,492) for Latinos, 5.6 percent (-$3,432) for whites and 9.7 percent (-$7,201) for Asians. Asian households continue to have the highest median income in spite of large income losses in the wake of the recession.

The primary driving force behind the slow recovery to pre-recession income levels has been stagnant wage growth. Following a brief period of across-the-board wage growth during the late 1990s, wages have remained essentially flat since 2000. From the start of the recovery in 2009 through 2013, real earnings of men working full-time, full-year are down for white (-2.1 percent) and Hispanic (-2.5 percent) men, but up for black men (+1.6 percent). As a result, the black-white earnings gap has narrowed while the Hispanic-white earnings gap is unchanged. Black men earned 71 cents for every dollar earned by white men in 2013 (up from 69 cents/dollar in 2009) and Hispanic men earned 60 cents on the dollar.

Among female workers, African American women have seen the largest decline in earnings since 2009 (-3.3 percent) while earnings for white (-0.2 percent) and Hispanic women (-0.5 percent) are down by less. In 2013, black women earned 78 cents for every dollar earned by white women (down from 80 cents/dollar in 2009) and Hispanic women earned 71 cents on the dollar (down from 72 cents/dollar in 2009).

The 2013 poverty rates also reflect the variance in income growth between Hispanic and other households. Between 2012 and 2013, the poverty rate for Latinos declined by 2.1 percentage points, but was essentially unchanged for whites and African Americans. The Asian poverty rate is down 1.2 percentage points. African-American and Hispanic children continue to face the highest poverty rates—38.3 percent of African Americans and 30.4 percent of Hispanics under age 18 live below the poverty level. This is an increase of 0.4 and a decrease of 3.4 percentage points for African American and Hispanic children, respectively. These groups are 3 to 4 times more likely to be in poverty than white children.

While today’s report provides a snapshot of the current economic condition of America’s largest racial and ethnic groups, Thursday’s release of the 2013 American Community Survey will provide an update on the Native American population and disaggregated data for the various ethnic groups that make up the Asian population.