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March is Women's History Month!

More Jobs, Smaller Paychecks

Real earnings for full-time workers from 1967 to 2011
Census Bureau
Real earnings for full-time workers from 1967 to 2011

After falling during the recession, the number of Americans with full-time jobs increased last year.

/ Census Bureau
/
Census Bureau

But median earnings for full-time workers fell. (Also: The wage gap between men and women did not change.)

And household income was stagnant across the income spectrum.

/ Census Bureau
/
Census Bureau

These figures, from a Census Bureau report released this morning, aren't surprising. But they are a reminder of the fact that, while high unemployment remains a big problem for the U.S. labor market, it's not the only problem. There's also a long-term stagnation in real earnings for people who have jobs.

On a less-grim note, the report also found that the percentage of Americans without health insurance fell last year. Here's more on that.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jacob Goldstein is an NPR correspondent and co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He is the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.