The median worker got a raise last year:
Median household income rose to $56,516 in 2015, up 5.2% a year earlier, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday. It marks the first increase in median income since 2007, the year before the Great Recession started.
Quick descriptive statistics lesson: Just because the median income increased doesn't mean that everyone's income went up. Here's a quick example. Suppose there are 5 workers in the country. Their incomes are, from low to high, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, and $70,000. The median income (middle value) of this group of workers is $50,000. The average income is also $50,000. Now suppose the richest worker gets a $10,000 raise to $80,000. The median income does not change (still $50,000), but the average income increases to $52,000.
Question: Does that mean we should report that incomes increased?
Now suppose that instead of the highest paid worker getting a raise, the worker at the median gets a raise of $5,000 (to $55,000). Now both the average income ($51,000) and the median income ($55,000) increase.
Question: Does that mean we should report that incomes increased?
Now suppose instead that everyone's income increased by $5,000. The average household income is now $55,000 and the median income is $55,000.
Question: What's my point?
My point is that a simple reporting of either a median or an average doesn't tell the whole story. The distribution of income also matters, and we need a lot more information to understand what is truly going on.
Who go the 5.2%? The median worker? All workers? Some subset of workers?
Questions that can't be answered with the limited information provided.
