“If your entire understanding of the economy comes from headlines about the latest economic data, you would be forgiven for thinking these are the best of times. The unemployment rate is down to 5.1 percent, after all!

“If your entire understanding of the economy comes from what is going on in financial markets, you would be forgiven for thinking the same. The stock market, its recent dip notwithstanding, is still not far from all-time highs!

“That’s what makes the latest annual data on incomes, released by the Census Bureau on Wednesday morning, an important corrective.”

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Read the full New York Times article by Neil Irwin here.