4.5% Income Growth Needed to Keep Up in Growing US Economy
Saturday April 27, 2019

Based upon yesterday’s Advance Estimate of Q1 2019 GDP by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, StayingEven’s initial estimate of the Q1 2019 Staying Even Index (SEI) is 4.5%, consistent with 2018’s full year reading.

This reading is almost triple the reported 1.6% increase in the average consumer price index (CPI) for this period, demonstrating that wages that increase with inflation/COLA are not sufficient to keep up in the growing U.S. economy.

The 4.5% increase in the Staying Even Index (SEI) is based upon reported 2018 nominal GDP growth of 5.1% and estimated population growth of 0.6%.

These projections suggest that individuals whose Q1 2019 total income from all sources grew by more than 4.5% from 2018 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. This reading continues to trend of elevated SEI readings: SEI growth for calendar year 2018 was 4.5%, 2017 was 3.5% and, 2016 was 1.9%.

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

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To find out whether you have gotten ahead, try our Staying Even Calculator, and to learn more about the Index, visit us at StayingEven.com. You can also follow us @stayingeven on Twitter.