Sunday, January 31, 2016

Based upon last week’s “Advance Estimate” of U.S. fourth quarter GDP released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, StayingEven.com’s first full year estimate of the 2015 Staying Even Index is 2.6%. 

The SEI measures the year-to-year income growth required for individuals to keep up in the U.S. economy – or to “stay even” with where they were in the prior year period.  The 2015 2.6% estimated growth in the SEI is significantly higher than the reported 0.1% average increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) compared to 2014, once again demonstrating that raises that keep up with reported inflation are not sufficient to stay even in the growing U.S. economy.  

These estimates suggest that individuals whose 2015 total income from all sources grew by more than 2.6% from 2014 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.

The 2.6% 2015 increase in the Staying Even Index (SEI) is based upon reported 2015 year-over-year nominal GDP growth of 3.4% and average population growth of 0.7%.  

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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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. Contact: .