Washington, D.C.— In light of the widening income inequality gap in the United States over the last 40 years, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Member of the Joint Economic Committee Martin Heinrich (D-NM) today sent a letter to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) urging it to prioritize the reporting of Income Growth Indicators to provide a more accurate assessment of the U.S. economic conditions for working Americans. The letter follows successful efforts to include report language in the 2019 appropriations bill directing BEA to conduct such analyses.
In the letter, the Members note the current practice of relying only on aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) not only overshadows important fiscal trends but also paints a rosier picture than the economic reality the vast majority of Americans actually experience. BEA’s production of Income Growth Indicators would provide more relevant data for having well-informed policy discussions and influencing policymakers’ decisions, particularly with respect to income growth for workers.
Furthermore, Democrats asked the BEA—on the day of the release of the latest GDP report—to regularly report Income Growth Indicators alongside national GDP reports to provide insight into how personal income is growing for all Americans, given that economic gains are increasingly concentrated among the wealthiest few.
