2.5% Income Growth from Q1 2015 Required to Keep Up in U.S. Economy
Sunday May 29, 2016

Based upon this week’s third estimate of Q1 2016 GDP by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, StayingEven.com’s Q1 estimate of the Staying Even Index remains at 2.5%, consistent with the advance estimate released last month. This is significantly higher than the reported 1.1% increase in the consumer price index (CPI) compared to the year ago period, demonstrating 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 3.3% 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.

##

To find out whether you have gotten ahead and to learn more about the Index, please follow @stayingeven on Twitter and visit us at StayingEven.com