The odds of a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase as early as June rose after a government report showed payroll gains in January capped the biggest three-month increase in 17 years.
Median income adjusted for inflation rose 2 percent to $223,200 for the wealthiest 10 percent of households from 2010 to 2013. The bottom 60 percent saw the biggest declines.
Federal Reserve economists concluded in a new research paper that much of the decline in labor force participation since 2007 is due to long-lasting structural causes such as the aging of the workforce.
Yellen said to pay attention to shortfalls in both inflation and the jobless rate for signals on the Federal Open Market Committees decisions on the policy rate.