HOUSEHOLD INCOMES ARE LOW



These haven't gone anywhere but down since the recession hit. Real median US household income -- that's "real," as in "adjusted for inflation" -- was $50,054 in 2011, the most recent data available from the US Census Bureau. That's 8% lower than the 2007 peak of $54,489.

... AND AMERICANS AREN'T OPTIMISTIC THAT THEY'LL GROW



Yes, it's true that those 2011 data are pretty old. But if consumer expectations are any reflection on income levels, it doesn't look like the pay has gotten anywhere back to normal pre-crisis levels.

HOUSING PRICES ARE LOW TOO



House prices have been perking up lately. But they're still about 25% below their 2007 peak, when the median price for an existing home in the US hit $230,300.

AND LABOR'S SHARE OF THE ECONOMY IS AT A 50-YEAR LOW



And while the US economy has gotten back on track, workers' pay has been a progressively shrinking piece of total GDP since the recession hit. That's what this chart shows. What's more, what now feels like the peak of 2007 was actually rather a low hillock, if you look back over the previous few decades.

ON THE OTHER HAND ... HOUSEHOLD WEALTH IS RISING



Now, things aren't completely terrible. The rebound in stocks has helped American households repair their balance sheets (non-profit organizations are included in these numbers) since they were at their lowest during the worst of the recession in the first quarter of 2009. At that point, some $16 trillion in American household wealth had been vaporized. Continued increases in housing prices will help Americans improve their finances.

AND DEBT HAS FALLEN



And there are some areas where Americans are better off than they were before the crisis. For example, their debt payments as a share of disposable income have come way down from unsustainable peaks. (We went a bit farther back with this chart, to give you some perspective.) It's important to note that this hasn't been a painless process either. A lot of the reduction comes from traumatic and damaging mortgage defaults. But some of it is also folks taking advantage of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy to refinance existing debt loads.

At any rate, we just thought it was worth pointing out that while the stock market may be back on top, the American people still have a long climb ahead of them.

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