GDP says almost nothing about what individuals lives are like, just look at the various petroleum states. As to poor people’s lives in the US, it’s basically flat with wage growth or loss depending on how you calculate inflation over the last 40 years.
The median income earners in Q1 1990 made 408$/week, one inflation source puts that at 951.17$/week in Q1 2023, vs 1095$ so is what the actual dividing line was. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881500Qhttps://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ So 0.3% annual growth over that timeframe with many ups and downs so numbers also look different depending on what exact dates are chosen.
Though again there’s many ways of calculating inflation, and many of them show that hypothetical person worse off. And of course individuals aren’t going to stay at exactly the same income band so many many people really are significantly worse off.
The median income earners in Q1 1990 made 408$/week, one inflation source puts that at 951.17$/week in Q1 2023, vs 1095$ so is what the actual dividing line was. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881500Q https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ So 0.3% annual growth over that timeframe with many ups and downs so numbers also look different depending on what exact dates are chosen.
The line between 1st and 2nd quartile is again basically flat, though the data doesn’t go before 2000. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LEU0252916100A
Though again there’s many ways of calculating inflation, and many of them show that hypothetical person worse off. And of course individuals aren’t going to stay at exactly the same income band so many many people really are significantly worse off.