US inflation eroded 2022 incomes, poverty jumped as pandemic support ended, Census says

Inflation-adjusted income fell and a key poverty measure rose sharply last year as the U.S. economy continued its rocky emergence from a once-in-a-century pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Tuesday.

The income and poverty data released by the Census showed how deeply the country's recent economic outcomes were influenced by the COVID-19 health crisis and the government response to it -- with a measure of child poverty more than doubling following the expiry of pandemic-era child tax credits last year, and the worst inflation in 40 years undercutting household spending power.

The child poverty rate, based on a supplemental measure that adjusts for government benefits and household expenses, jumped to 12.4% in 2022 from 5.2% in 2021.