Household incomes in the US finally broke free of the recession in 2015, rising for the first time since the Obama election, the Census Bureau announced on Tuesday, but they still remained below levels before the recession.

The bureau’s annual report, the most detailed look at the financial health of US households to be released before the election, will be parsed by Democrats and Republicans in the weeks ahead and contained ammunition for both sides.

There were 3.6 million fewer Americans living in poverty in 2015 than the year before, according the US Census. About 43.1 million Americans were living in poverty in 2015 compared with 46.7 million Americans in 2014.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Real median income Photograph: US Census Bureau

The drop in the number of people living in poverty in the US can be attributed to an increase in median income, which rose to $56,516, up 5.2% from the 2014 median income of $53,718.

However, the rise has failed to wipe out the losses US families endured during the recession, still more than a $1,000 below the median pre-recession levels. Americans are earning about what they were earning in 1999, when household income peaked at $56,895. However, accounting for inflation, 2015 median household income is about 2.4% lower than the median household income peak from 1999.

Incomes rose for all racial groups. The median income for white Americans went up 4.4%, while that of black Americans went up by 4.1% and that of Hispanic Americans went up by 6.1%.

But the levels of income inequality remained stark. The median household income for black Americans in 2015 was $36,898. The median household income for white Americans was $63,000 – about 70% more than that of black Americans.

Income inequality and the economy are key issues in this election cycle. Most recently, while appearing in Cleveland, the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said there are only bad jobs available in the US and promised to be “the greatest jobs producing president that God ever created”. He has also come out in support of raising the US federal minimum wage to $10 an hour and claimed the Democrats have failed black voters.



His rival, Hillary Clinton, has spoken about the need to build an economy for everyone.

Activists are hoping the candidates will also address the needs of the still huge number of Americans living in poverty. On Wednesday, the Vote to End Hunger coalition plan to deliver a petition to Lester Holt, NBC newscaster and host of the first presidential debate, urging him to push the presidential candidates to address what they will do to alleviate poverty and end hunger in the US and worldwide. Holt will be moderating the first presidential debate at Hofstra University on 26 September.

More than 42 million Americans, including 13.1 million children, struggled with hunger in 2015, the coalition said.

The drop in poverty and increase in household income was due to the strengthening labor market and growth in wages, according to Sheldon Danziger, president of Russell Sage Foundation.

“Poverty declined so much because employment increased steadily in 2015, with the annual unemployment rate at 5.3% compared to 6.2% in 2014. In addition, 21 states and the District of Columbia increased their minimum wage rates in 2015,” he said.

In both 2014 and 2015, the number of full time workers went up – with an additional 1.2 million men and 1.6 million women finding full time work in 2014 and another 1.4 million men and one million women finding full time work in 2015. This past month, the US economy added 151,000 jobs. August was the 71st consecutive month of overall job creation – the longest streak on record. The US Federal Reserve has previously said that the labor market is nearing full employment.

The data released on Tuesday also showed that gender wage gap still persists – with women earning about 80 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2015. The gender wage gap has only decreased by one cent since 2014. While this is the smallest pay gap on record, it is no reason for celebration.

“Women of America, if you are looking for a raise, don’t get your hopes up: the wage gap closed by only a penny last year,” said Emily Martin, vice-president for workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center. “While a small step forward is better than standing still, over a 40-year career women still stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars to the wage gap. And for many women of color, the cost of the lifetime wage gap will still exceed a million dollars. We can’t afford to close this gap one penny at a time.”

Black women working full time earned 63 cents for every dollar earned by white men. Hispanic women earned only 54 cents for every dollar earned by white men.