2.5% Income Growth from Q1 2015 Required to Keep Up in U.S. Economy
Saturday, April 30, 2016

Based upon last week’s “advance estimate” of Q1 2016 GDP by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, StayingEven.com’s Q1 estimate of the Staying Even Index is 2.5%. This is significantly higher than the reported 1.1% increase in the consumer price index (CPI) compared to the year ago period, demonstrating once again that wages that increase with inflation/COLA are not sufficient to keep up in the growing U.S. economy. The 2.5% increase in the Staying Even Index (SEI) is based upon reported Q1 year-over-year nominal GDP growth of 3.2% and population growth of 0.8%.

These projections suggest that individuals whose Q1 2015 total income from all sources grew by more than 2.5% from the same period in 2015 expanded their adjusted share of the U.S. economy, and those whose total income grew by less than this fell behind compared to the prior year. As previously released, SEI growth for calendar year 2015 was 2.7%.

StayingEven.com will publish updates to these figures as GDP and population estimates are revised over the coming months and as future quarter GDP estimates are released. We are dedicated to helping individuals understand what income growth is required to keep up in the U.S. Economy.

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