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Joint Economic Committee Democrats Chairman - Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM)

Older Americans Have Been Able to Rebuild Income While Young Americans Are Far Behind

June 5, 2018

Weekly Economic Snapshot 6/4 - 6/8

Economic Facts for This Week

  • Households on average incur $122,000 in medical spending over their retirement years (70+), with 5 percent of households surpassing $300,000.
  • The National Urban League released its 2018 Equality Index, measuring how African Americans and Latinos are doing compared to their white counterparts (with 100 percent implying full equality) across economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement. The index finds that large racial disparities persist, with African Americans attaining 72.5 percent of whites and Latinos 79.3 percent.
  • The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) finds that the president’s budget, released earlier this year, would fail to deliver the results the administration promised. CBO also rejected the administration’s claims that the $2 trillion-plus tax cut will pay for itself by boosting economic growth.
  • Increased consolidation of health insurance firms operating in overlapping markets significantly increases prices for patients and decreases quality.

Chart of the Week             

Many families are still suffering from the large financial setbacks of the Great Recession. New research from the Federal Reserve of St. Louis highlights the ongoing financial struggle families headed by different age cohorts face as they attempt to regain wealth and income lost during this period. Families headed by those born after the 1960s, for example, have been unable to fully regain income lost during the Great Recession by the end of 2016. The youngest families studied, headed by those born during the 1980s, have fallen furthest behind in the typical wealth-accumulation life cycle, leaving them with limited income growth compared to other families. In spite of suffering losses during the Great Recession, though, families headed by someone born in the 1930s through the 1950s were able to rebuild wealth and regain income by 2016.

ICYMI

  •  Senator Martin Heinrich, ranking member, delivers opening remarks at the JEC hearing on regulations, the innovation economy, and access to capital.
  • A new proposal would have the Bureau of Economic Analysis publish economic growth estimates broken out by the income distribution, giving policymakers better insight into who is being left behind in the modern economy.
  • The Commerce Department revised down first-quarter GDP estimates, highlighting softer than expected private investment, residential fixed investment, and exports.  
  • A new Harvard study estimates that more than 4,600 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria, more than 70 times the government’s official death toll for the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico last September.

Coming This Week

Permalink: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/2018/6/weekly-economic-snapshot-1-1-1-5

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