Wages

Median household incomes jumped by 5.2 percent in 2015, the year Trump made his comments. That was fastest rate on record, according to the U.S. Census. Average hourly earnings are now rising at their fastest rate since Obama’s first year in office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Median wage growth for full-time workers is at its highest level since the recession, according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve. For years into the recovery, only the rich were getting richer. But now, according to separate Census analyses by White House economists and Bank of America economists, the fastest wage growth is actually taking place among the poorest households.

No reasonable economist, writer, or politician should confuse progress with plenty. Obama’s economic record is underrated, but it is far from perfect. Social mobility in many parts of the country has fallen, and it remains dismally low for black Americans. Inequality in the economy grown during Obama’s tenure, and it has taken aggressive new policies, like the Affordable Care Act and expanded tax credits, to keep the middle class and poor from falling much further behind the rich. Many prime age men have left the labor force, puzzling economists, and finally, national economic improvements can overlook many pockets of sticky poverty, which have suffered throughout the otherwise steady recovery.

But, perhaps because the economy’s progress became steady and boring, it has faded from headlines while Trump’s lugubrious bluster about ghettos and “no jobs” has filled the vacuum. The real story is less dramatic, but all progress begins with an honest acknowledgement of progress already made.

This story is part of our Next America: Workforce project, which is supported by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.