This includes part time workers though. A lot of people work less than 40 hours a week and this drags down the number. If you only count full time median personal income, the figure is much higher.
I'd adjust that to: a lot of people work at least one job less than 40 hours a week.
I've held multiple jobs in the past for some extra income. So did my mother when we were growing up. So have all three of my siblings in between jobs or when their jobs didn't give them enough hours (they would have taken full time positions if any were available). So am I right now, actually. I just started a new full time job a week and a half ago and have been stuck doing exploitative gig app work to make ends meet before my first paycheck hits at the end of September.
All anecdotal, just a gentle warning not to leap to assumptions in areas like this without data to at least suggest the leap.
I find it very hard to believe that median household income is more than twice median personal income. There must be a lot more households with only one wage-earner than with more than two.
> I find it very hard to believe that median household income is more than twice median personal income.
It’s not. The $79k figure is mean of some income measure (not sure which one). Median household income is around $70k, on which basis someone said that the $79k mean figure was “pretty close to” the median income. Which, maybe, loosely it is to the median household figure, but not to the median personal income figure which is probably more relevant to individual salary. $70k (median household income) is not more than twice $38k (median personal income).
You should adjust your expectations. All anecdotal, but where I lived before now there were 5 incomes in a single household. The people who lived there before us had 4. In my own prior housing it was 3. Where I live now there's just 2. It's pretty common, housing is expensive and jobs don't pay enough. It's difficult to find housing at all on just one income. My fiancee and I had to lightly massage some numbers to meet the income requirements for our current housing.
It's not.
Median personal income (household figures reflect that households can have more than one income earner) is ~38k.