Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 13, 1995                   TAG: 9501130081
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

INCOMES DECLINED IN '90S

``Between 1990 and 1992, men between the ages of 25 and 54 who left full-time jobs and then found full-time employment experienced average earnings declines of 20 percent, from $529 a week to $423,'' the report said.

It also found that overall, household incomes fell during the period, which included the 1990-1991 recession.

``The economy's inability to create jobs was part of the reason behind the falling incomes in the early 1990s,'' the report said.

``Between 1989 and 1992, median household income ... fell by 6 percent in real [inflation-adjusted] terms, after rising by 10 percent between 1983 and 1989.''

Since then, Reich said, ``We have had a jobs recovery, but not a wage recovery.'' He contended the report illustrates the need for President Clinton's ``Middle Class Bill of Rights'' to restore middle-class prosperity.

Clinton's plan calls for tax deductions for education, and job training and skill grants for those with earnings too low to take advantage of the tuition deductions.

Reich, in an interview Thursday, defended Clinton's plan to raise the middle-class standard of living through use of tax deductions for education and job training.

``If corporations can deduct business lunches and entertainment and the cost of machinery, families should certainly be able to deduct job training and education,'' Reich said.

The census study also found:

The average amount of time a worker spent seeking employment or was unemployed increased to 2.4 months in 1990-92, compared with 1.8 months in 1987-89.

About 2.5 million men and 2 million women who were unemployed in 1990-92 lost their employer-provided health insurance.

The portion of persons living in households in which someone was receiving unemployment compensation grew to 5.3 percent in January 1992 from 3.2 percent in January 1990.

The shifts in household income differed by race. Of whites, 41 percent experienced income declines while 36 percent saw incomes increase. For blacks, the corresponding percentages were 43 and 35 and for Hispanics the percentages were 44 and 36.