Jump to statistics on:

• Earnings
• Incomes
• Poverty
• Policy / SPM

This fact sheet provides key numbers from today’s new Census reports, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020 and The Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2020. Each section has headline statistics from the reports for 2020, as well as comparisons with the previous year. This fact sheet also provides historical context for the 2020 recession by analyzing changes between the last business cycle peak in 2019 to 2007 (the final year of the economic expansion that preceded the Great Recession), and to 2000 (the prior economic peak). All dollar values are adjusted for inflation (2020 dollars). Because of a redesign in the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) income questions in 2013, we imputed the historical series using the ratio of the old and new method in 2013. All percentage changes from before 2013 are based on this imputed series. We do not adjust for the break in the series in 2017 due to differences in the legacy CPS ASEC processing system and the updated CPS ASEC processing system, but these differences are small and statistically insignificant in most cases.

Earnings

Median annual earnings for men working full time grew 5.6%, to $61,417, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, men’s earnings rose 3.0% between 2007 and 2019, and were 3.6% higher in 2019 than they were in 2000.

Median annual earnings for women working full time grew 6.5%, to $50,982, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, women’s earnings rose 9.0% between 2007 and 2019, and were 15.7% higher in 2019 than they were in 2000.

Incomes

Median household income fell 2.9%, to $67,521 in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, median household income rose 7.3% between 2007 and 2019, and was 6.5% higher in 2019 than it was in 2000.

Median non-elderly household income fell 2.6%, to $76,800, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, median non-elderly household income rose 8.1% between 2007 and 2019, and was 4.3% higher in 2019 than it was in 2000.

Median household income for white, non-Hispanic households fell 2.7%, to $74,912, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, median household income rose 8.2% between 2007 and 2019, and was 8.2% higher in 2019 than it was in 2000.

Median household income for Black households fell 0.1%, to $46,600, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, median household income rose 6.3% between 2007 and 2019, and was 1.4% higher in 2019 than it was in 2000.

Median household income for Hispanic households fell 2.6%, to $55,321, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, median household income rose 21.1% between 2007 and 2019, and was 17.3% higher in 2019 than it was in 2000.

Poverty

The poverty rate rose 0.9 percentage points, to 11.4%, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, the poverty rate fell 2.0 percentage points between 2007 and 2019 and was 0.8 percentage points lower in 2019 than it was in 2000.

The child poverty rate rose 1.7 percentage points, to 16.1%, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, the child poverty rate was 3.6 percentage points lower in 2019 than it was in 2007 and was 1.8 percentage points lower in 2019 than it was in 2000.

The white, non-Hispanic poverty rate rose 0.9 percentage points, to 8.2%, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, the white, non-Hispanic poverty rate fell 0.9 percentage points between 2007 and 2019, and was 0.1 percentage points lower in 2019 than it was in 2000.

The Black poverty rate rose 0.6 percentage points, to 19.3%, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, the Black poverty rate fell 5.7 percentage points between 2007 and 2019, and was 3.8 percentage points lower in 2019 than it was in 2000.

The Hispanic poverty rate rose/fell 1.3 percentage points, to 17.0%, in 2020. Prior to the 2020 recession, the Hispanic poverty rate fell 5.8 percentage points between 2007 and 2019, and was 5.8 percentage points lower in 2019 than it was in 2000.

Policy matters

The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) is an alternative poverty measure published by the Census Bureau since 2010 that is more sophisticated than the official poverty measure referenced earlier in this fact sheet. The SPM takes into account an array of typical expenses—such as housing, food, clothing, health care, and more—as well as people’s income from both market sources and government programs. Using the Supplemental Poverty Measure, we can evaluate how government assistance lifts people out of poverty. 

SPM poverty rate in 2020: 9.1%

Public safety net and social insurance programs kept tens of millions of people out of poverty in 2020. The Census SPM data show that:

• Social Security kept 26.5 million people out of poverty in 2020.
• Economic Impact/stimulus kept 11.7 million people out of poverty in 2020.
• Unemployment insurance kept 5.5 million people out of poverty in 2020.
• Refundable tax credits (such as the Earned Income Tax Credit) kept 5.3 million people out of poverty in 2020.
• The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) and school lunch assistance kept 3.2 million people out of poverty in 2020.

One important indicator from today’s report is the job seekers ratio—the ratio of unemployed workers (averaged for mid-March and mid-April) to job openings (at the end of March). On average, there were 9.8 million unemployed workers compared with 8.1 million job openings. This translates into a job seekers ratio of 1.2 unemployed workers to every job opening. Put another way, for every 12 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them. That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 1.6 million unemployed workers.

As with job losses, workers in certain industries are facing a steeper uphill battle. In the construction industry as well as arts, entertainment, and recreation, there were more than two unemployed workers per job opening. In educational services, accommodation and food services, other services, and transportation and utilities, there were more than three unemployed workers for every two job openings.

JOLTS

There has been much bemoaning of labor shortages, particularly within accommodations and food services, even though there are no available jobs for one-third of the job seekers in that sector. Any potential shortage from the recent surge in job openings is likely to be quite short-lived, as before long many more workers will come back into job-search as it becomes increasingly safe to pursue these public facing jobs with improving public health metrics, as childcare and schooling becomes more reliable, and as wages rise to compensate for the extra risk of working in face-to-face places during the lingering pandemic. And, as we saw in the April employment data last Friday, the labor market added 241,400 more jobs in accommodation and food services, so the trend is already moving in the right direction.

It’s also important to remember that all potential workers don’t show up in the official count of unemployed, particularly in this recession as workers sheltered at home to avoid the pandemic or to care for family members. The economic pain remains widespread with 22.1 million workers hurt by the coronavirus downturn. I hope hiring picks up in coming months since the labor market continued to face a significant jobs shortfall likely in the range of 9.0 to 11.0 million jobs.

The unemployment rate ticked up in April to 6.1%, in large part due to workers beginning to return to the labor force in search of jobs. The labor force increased by 430,000 workers in April, the largest gain in six months. Likely in response to improving public health metrics and increased expectations of job opportunities, more and more workers are actively returning to the labor force in search of work. While wage growth will be the leading indicator of employers having to bid up wages to attract workers, the significant rise in the labor force runs counter to anecdotal claims of labor shortages.

As of the latest data, employment is still down 8.2 million jobs from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020. But, if we include the likelihood that thousands of jobs would have been added each month over the last year without the pandemic recession, the jobs shortfall is more likely in the range of 9.0 and 11.0 million. Now is not the time to turn off vital relief—including expanded unemployment benefits—to workers and their families.

Additional key points in today’s report:

• The Black unemployment rate rose slightly to 9.7%, making Black workers the only racial and ethnic group (as a whole) to experience worsening metrics. Meanwhile, the white unemployment rate fell to 5.3%. Clearly, these two groups are experiencing a very different labor market.
• Long-term unemployment—those unemployed 27 weeks and over—fell slightly in April, while the increase in the unemployment rate was due to increases in those unemployed less than five weeks. Among those long-term unemployed, improvements in those unemployed 27-51 weeks were largely offset by increases among those unemployed 52 weeks or longer.
• Only 18.3% of the workforce teleworked in April. As the economy absorbs more leisure and hospitality workers, I expect this number to keep falling. This also means that over 80% of the workforce is going to work in-person, risking their health and the health of their family members as the pandemic continues to spread.
• In addition to the 9.8 million officially unemployed in April 2021, we must add three more groups of economically hurt workers: those unemployed but misclassified as employed or not in the labor force (3.3 million), those who dropped out of the labor force (4.4 million), and those employed but experiencing a cut in pay and hours (4.6 million). Taken together, 22.1 million people are economically hurt in the COVID downturn.

One of the most striking indicators from today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the job seekers ratio—the ratio of unemployed workers (averaged for mid-February and mid-March) to job openings (at the end of February). On average, there were 9.8 million unemployed workers compared with only 7.4 million job openings. This translates into a job seekers ratio of about 1.3 unemployed workers to every job opening. Put another way, for every 13 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them. That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 2.5 million unemployed workers.

As with job losses, workers in certain industries are facing a steeper uphill battle. In the construction industry as well as arts, entertainment, and recreation, there were more than three unemployed workers per job opening. In educational services, accommodation and food services, other services, and transportation and utilities, there were more than two unemployed workers per job opening. As bad as these numbers are, they miss the fact that many more weren’t counted among the unemployed: The economic pain remains widespread with 23.6 million workers hurt by the coronavirus downturn.

On the whole, the U.S. economy is seeing a significantly slower hiring pace than we experienced in May or June. While the pickup in job openings is a promising sign, hiring in February was below where it was before the recession. There was an increase in jobs in the mid-March employment report, but we still have a long way to go before recovering the large job shortfall—11.0 million when using a reasonable counterfactual of job growth if the recession hadn’t occurred—that remains.

Even at this pace, it could take more than a year to dig out of the total jobs shortfall. However, today’s number is certainly a promising sign for the recovery, especially as vaccinations increase and vital provisions in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) have continued to ramp up since the March reference period to today’s data. The benefits of the ARP will continue to be captured in coming months.

Key points of note in today’s report:

• The largest jobs gains were in the sector most hurt: leisure and hospitality employment increased by 280,000 in March. Even with this improvement, leisure and hospitality employment—the lowest-paid sector in the U.S. economy—is still down 3.1 million jobs since February 2020.
• Public-sector employment—notably in state and local education jobs—finally saw signs of life in March, likely due at least in part to the impact of the state and local government aid in the ARP. State and local government employment rose 129,000 in March; 97% of that increase (125,600 jobs) were in state and local education employment. Even with these improvements, state and local education employment is still down 863,200 since February 2020. I’m hopeful here again that ARP provisions to state and local governments will provide a necessary boost in coming months.
• About one-fifth (21.0%) of the workforce teleworked because of the coronavirus pandemic. This means the vast majority of workers—disproportionately low-wage workers—are physically going to work. While the ramp up in the distribution of the vaccine is a positive trend, we are still nowhere near herd immunity and need to heed health officials in opening guidelines.
• While the overall unemployment rate fell from 6.2% to 6.0%, the labor participation rate only improved slightly. As it becomes safe to reopen, I expect many more workers to return to the labor market seeking jobs.
• The Black unemployment rate improved last month, but remains at 9.6%, far higher than any other group.
• Long-term unemployment continued to rise in March, with 4.2 million workers unemployed 27 weeks or more.

In addition to the 9.7 million officially unemployed workers in March 2021, we must add four more groups of economically hurt workers:

• First, the  636,000 workers misclassified as “employed, not at work.”
• Second, the 2.7 million undercount of unemployed workers, found even in normal times.
• Third, the 4.8 million workers now out of the labor force and not counted among the unemployed—measured by the differential between the size of the current labor force and what the labor force would be if the labor force participation rate hadn’t dropped over the last year.
• Fourth, the 5.8 million workers who experienced a drop in hours and pay because of the pandemic.

In total, this means that 23.6 million workers are currently harmed in the coronavirus downturn. We include the 5.7 million baseline unemployment level prior to COVID as part of the number hurt right now because job search was made much more difficult by the labor market impacts of the recession. We include the 2.7 million estimated undercount of the unemployed prior to the start of COVID based on Ahn and Hamilton (2021) because again job search was made much more difficult by the labor market impacts of the recession.

Today’s BLS  Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) reports little change in January 2021, a clear sign that the recovery is not charging ahead. In fact, hiring and job openings are below where they were before the recession hit, which makes it impossible to recover anytime soon when we have such a massive hole to fill in the labor market. In January, job openings mildly increased from 6.8 million to 6.9 million while hires softened for two months in a row. Hires declined from 6.1 million in November to 5.4 million in December, then down to 5.3 million in January.

One of the most striking indicators from today’s report is the job-seekers ratio—the ratio of unemployed workers (averaged for mid-January and mid-February) to job openings (at the end of January). On average, there were 10.1 million unemployed workers compared with only 6.9 million job openings. This translates into a job-seekers ratio of about 1.5 unemployed workers to every job opening. Put another way, for every 15 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them. That means that, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 3.1 million unemployed workers.

As with job losses, workers in certain industries are facing a steeper uphill battle. In the construction industry as well as in arts, entertainment, and recreation, there were more than three unemployed workers per job opening. This means that for every job opening, there were no jobs for two unemployed workers. In educational services, accommodation and food services, other services, and transportation and utilities, there were more than two unemployment workers per job opening. As bad as these numbers are, they miss the fact that many more weren’t counted among the unemployed: The economic pain remains widespread, with 25.1 million workers hurt by the coronavirus downturn.

On the whole, the U.S. economy is seeing a significantly slower hiring pace than we experienced in May or June. In January, hiring was below where it was before the recession, a big problem given that we have only recovered just over half of the job losses from this spring. And job openings are now substantially below where they were before the recession began (6.9 million at the end of January, compared with 7.1 million on average in the year prior to the recession).

Fortunately, Congress has passed—and President Biden is expected to sign—the American Rescue Plan, which will provide necessary relief to millions of people across the country and create conditions for a truly robust recovery.

Thousands of jobs would have been added each month over the last year without the pandemic recession. If we count how many jobs may have been created if the recession hadn’t hit—consider average job growth (202,000) over the 12 months before the recession—we are now short 11.9 million jobs since February. Make no mistake: The $1.9 trillion relief and recovery bill being considered in Congress this week is exactly what workers and their families need right now.

Low-wage workers continue to be the hardest hit in the recession. While leisure and hospitality—the lowest paid sector—saw significant improvements in February (+355,000 jobs), it remains 3.5 million jobs below where it was in February 2020. In addition, the labor market continued to hemorrhage public-sector jobs last month, falling by 86,000 in February. The state and local government job shortfall stands at 1.4 million jobs, with 1.0 million of those losses in state and local education employment. Given that state and local governments face many new expenses in figuring out how to open schools safely, it is imperative that additional aid be provided to state and local governments so that new costs won’t squeeze out necessary hiring. Policymakers must not shortchange aid to state and local governments, which is essential to a robust recovery.

As we approach International Women’s Day, it is important to remember that women have borne a heavier burden of job losses in the pandemic recession. Women’s disproportionate job losses are due in part to both occupational segregation (i.e., women disproportionately more likely to hold lower-wage service-sector jobs) and caretaking responsibilities (i.e., closed schools and day care options, and caregiving responsibilities for other family members in general). In the United States, there’s a clear gender story here, but in the aggregate, it’s not about white women. Black and Hispanic women experienced the most significant and disproportionate job losses in the pandemic recession.

Black workers experienced an uptick in unemployment in February, back to 9.9%, just shy of the high-water mark in the Great Recession. Because of historic and current systemic racism, Black and Latinx workers have seen more job loss and more illness in this pandemic. Passing large-scale relief measures now is an economic and racial justice imperative.

The unemployment rate improved slightly, hitting 6.2% in February, but it would be a huge oversight to think that those officially unemployed workers are the only ones to experience economic pain in the pandemic recession.

In addition to the 10.0 million officially unemployed workers in February 2021, we must add four more groups of economically hurt workers:

• First, the 756,000 workers misclassified as “employed, not at work.”
• Second, the 2.7 million undercount of unemployed workers, found even in normal times.
• Third, the 5.1 million workers now out of the labor force and not counted among the unemployed—measured by the differential between the size of the current labor force and what the labor force would be if the labor force participation rate hadn’t dropped over the last year.
• Fourth, the 6.6 million workers who experienced a drop in hours and pay because of the pandemic.

(More detailed methodology on each of these numbers can be found here.)

In total, this means that 25.1 million workers—or 14.7% of the workforce—have been directly harmed by the coronavirus downturn. On top of this, another 1.2 million people applied for unemployment insurance benefits last week. It is clear that policymakers need to step up right now to provide relief, and the $1.9 trillion relief and recovery bill is at the scale of the problem and is essential for a robust and equitable recovery.

In December, job openings were little changed while hires softened considerably, falling from 5.9 million to 5.5 million. In particular, hiring decreased in leisure and hospitality—in both accommodation and food services and in arts, entertainment, and recreation. Hiring also declined in transportation, warehousing, and utilities.

One of the most striking indicators from today’s report is the job seekers ratio—the ratio of unemployed workers (averaged for mid-December and mid-January) to job openings (at the end of December). On average, there were 10.4 million unemployed workers compared with only 6.6 million job openings. This translates into a job seekers ratio of about 1.6 unemployed workers to every job opening. Put another way, for every 16 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them. That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 3.8 million unemployed workers. And this misses the fact that many more weren’t counted among the unemployed: The economic pain remains widespread with 25.5 million workers hurt by the coronavirus downturn.

On the whole, the U.S. economy is seeing a significantly slower hiring pace than we experienced in May or June. In December, hiring was below where it was before the recession, a big problem given that we have only recovered just over half of the job losses from this spring. And job openings are now substantially below where they were before the recession began (6.6 million at the end of December, compared to 7.1 million on average in the year prior to the recession). With hiring and job openings at these levels, the economy is facing a long, slow recovery without additional action from Congress.

Policymakers need to act now at the scale of the problem to address the continuing economic crisis.

These swings are partly due to seasonal adjustments. Every December, there are expectations of ramped up holiday hiring followed by cutbacks in January. Usually, the seasonal adjustment tempers those effects so comparisons between months are more reliable. Because hiring didn’t ramp up in December to then experience the losses in January, I recommend taking an average of December and January to get a better sense of current labor market momentum. The average job change of the last two months is -89,000, a troubling sign for an economy that desperately needs more life.

Overall, the labor market is down 9.9 million jobs since February 2020. And, if we count how many jobs may have been created if the recession hadn’t hit—a more appropriate counterfactual for the current hole we are in might be average job growth over the 12 months before the recession (202,000)—we are now short 12.1 million jobs since February. Policymakers need to go big to solve this crisis.

In today’s report, the BLS discussed the fact that seasonal adjustments also distorted the numbers on state and local government jobs. Therefore, little attention should be paid to what appears to be an increase in public-sector employment. State and local government employment is down 1.3 million jobs since February 2020. The vast majority of these job losses (nearly 1 million) are in state and local education employment, which remains 9.0% below its February level. Because of the economic crises, states and localities are facing huge revenue shortfalls, which must be relieved with more federal aid. What we know from the last recession is that states that preserved or grew their public-sector workforce fared better, with fewer job losses overall, fewer private-sector job cuts, less growth in unemployment, and faster job growth. Without significant federal investment, it will be impossible for state and local governments to avoid further cuts and return to their pre-pandemic employment levels in the near future.

Turning to the household survey, the latest data indicate that the unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 6.3% in January. The decline was primarily among workers experiencing shorter spells of unemployment. The number of long-term unemployed—those unemployed for 27 weeks or more—held steady at 4.0 million.

As bad as these numbers are, they understate the economic pain. These counts of the unemployed do not take into account the millions of workers who have left the labor force or were misclassified as employed but not at work or had their hours cut. Taking all those workers into account, a total of 25.5 million workers—15.0% of the workforce—were directly hurt by the COVID downturn in January. This proves essential the need for extensions to unemployment insurance to provide a necessary lifeline to those workers and their families.

The overall unemployment rate also misses the fact that the pandemic recession and recovery, such as it is, is not hitting all workers equally. In January, white, Black, and Hispanic unemployment rates dropped, while the Asian American unemployment rate rose. The largest gap in unemployment still remains between white workers with an unemployment rate of 5.7% and Black workers at 9.2%.

The data also show that it is far from true that “everyone” is working from home because of the pandemic. Only 23.2% of employed people report having teleworked or worked at home in the last four weeks because of the pandemic—less than one in four workers.

Today’s jobs day report reinforces the need for Congress to take bold action in passing crucial relief measures through reconciliation.

In November, job openings softened mildly (from 6.6 to 6.5 million) while hires were essentially unchanged, rising slightly (from 5.91 to 5.98 million). Another troubling sign was the large increase in layoffs (from 1.7 to 2.0 million). The number of layoffs and discharges increased notably in accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, and state and local government.

On the whole, the U.S. economy is seeing a significantly slower hiring pace than we experienced in May or June—roughly where it was before the recession, which is a big problem given that we have only recovered just over half of the job losses from this spring. And job openings are now substantially below where they were before the recession began (6.5 million at the end of November, compared to 7.1 million on average in the year prior to the recession). And today’s data release only covers through November, so it doesn’t even capture December’s job losses, which were substantial. With hiring and job openings at these levels, the economy is facing a long, slow recovery without additional action from Congress.

One of the most striking indicators from today’s report is the job seekers ratio, that is, the ratio of unemployed workers (averaged for mid-November and mid-December) to job openings (at the end of October). On average, there were 10.7 million unemployed workers while there were only 6.5 million job openings. This translates into a job seeker ratio of about 1.6 unemployed workers to every job opening. Another way to think about this: for every 16 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them. That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 4.2 million unemployed workers. And this misses the fact that many more weren’t counted among the unemployed. The economic pain remains widespread with 26.8 million workers hurt by the coronavirus downturn.

With growing COIVD-19 cases and falling employment, the incoming Biden administration will be facing a mounting, not waning, crisis. The latest congressional relief bill is an important step toward addressing some of this pain, but it is not at the scale of the problem. I’m hopeful that more relief measures are on the horizon for increasingly desperate workers and their families. Senate Republicans forced the December bill to be far too small. Fortunately, with the Democratic majority in the Senate given the results of the Georgia runoffs, Democrats will now be able to get more relief measures through reconciliation. Their top priorities must be aid to state and local governments and further extensions of unemployment insurance.