The US Census Bureau dropped its annual load of statistics on American poverty and income, and the data shows Americans weren’t much better off in 2018 than they were a year earlier. On the upside: 2.3 million more people snagged full-time jobs and the official poverty rate fell half a percentage point.
On the downside: Fewer people have health insurance and women earned about 82 cents for every dollar a man earned. Middle-class incomes hardly budged. But one of the most interesting data points released each year shows the massive economic impact that federal “entitlement” programs, such as food stamps and housing subsidies, have on low-wage workers.
Vox