Rebound in median income a welcome improvement

The rapid rebound in real median household income over the past few years, from a 16-year low in 2011 to a record high in 2016, illustrates that it is not just the top five percent who are benefitting from the current economic expansion any more. Over the past couple of years, those at the bottom of the income distribution have seen their income gains outpace the middle class. Nevertheless, those gains have done almost nothing to correct the massive increases in income inequality that built up over the past few decades.