By Ilan Kolet and Greg Quinn
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- The last of the U.S. baby boomers have ended up poorer than the prior two generations, including those born during the Great Depression and World War II.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows the median household income of Americans born between 1956 and 1965 was $64,179 in 2010, when the group was in their 45-to-54 peak earning years. The median is the number where half of those in the sample earned more and half earned less.
Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies said the median for the "younger baby boom" was less than the $73,401 earned in 2000 by the generation born between 1946 and 1955, when they were in their peak earning years, and the $71,617 earned in 1990 by those born from 1936 to 1945. The figures were expressed in 2009 dollars and adjusted to remove the effects of inflation.
"After the 2001 recession, employment regained little ground before the Great Recession struck in 2007," the report said. "This trend significantly lowered the income trajectory of the younger baby boomers compared with those of their older counterparts and the pre-boomers. Indeed, the younger baby boomers have ended their peak earning years of 45-54 with lower household incomes than those of the older baby boomers."
The U.S. has recovered only 1.8 million of the more than 8.7 million jobs lost since January 2008, according to Labor Department figures. A report last week showed the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in May, the highest this year.