The latest U.S. Census Bureau report has shown a 5.2-percent increase in household incomes and 1.2-percent decline in poverty across the country in 2015.

In a blog post published Wednesday, President Barack Obama shared the two key findings from the recent census that he says highlight the U.S. economic progress over the past eight years.

“Our businesses have created more than 15 million new jobs since early 2010,” Obama wrote.

He noted that 20 million Americans currently have health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act and that the typical U.S. household incomes grew by approximately $2,800 in 2015 alone.

“We lifted 3.5 million people out of poverty, including one million children — the largest one-year drop in almost 50 years,” Obama added.

The president said the administration works to further address inequality through its request to Congress for a higher minimum wage and calls for investment in clean energy and infrastructure to provide jobs.

The Office of Personnel Management has provided more information about the new National Background Investigations Bureau in OPM’s written response to a follow-up inquiry from Sens. John Tester (D-Montana) and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), Federal News Radio reported Monday.

Jason Miller writes OPM told the senators in the agency’s Sept. 2 letter that NBIB will have federal investigative records enterprise and business transformation directorates as well as an engagements and customer service office with a law enforcement liaison that will promote electronic records exchange.

OPM also noted the bureau will employ approximately 3,000 government personnel and about 5,500 contractor employees, Miller reports.

NBIB transition lead Jim Onusko said at a national security forum that NBIB will have eight key functions such as a senior executive service position that will oversee the FIRE directorate and lead efforts to automate and digitize the bureau’s processes, according to the station.

The report said OPM hired roughly 400 federal investigators this year and aims to recruit 200 more investigative professionals in 2017, Miller wrote.

The Defense Information Systems Agency seeks industry feedback on information technology platforms for NBIB’s National Background Investigation System which will cover the bureau’s IT applications, security, storage and other service requirements.

The Office of Personnel Management has released the results of an agency-level survey administered to 407,789 federal employees that represented 80 agencies on a data visualization dashboard called UnlockTalent.gov.

OPM said Tuesday results of the 2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey revealed employee engagement and global job satisfaction scores across the federal government and the agency aims to release digital and print formats of detailed 2016 FEVS results in early October.

Government-wide employee engagement and global satisfaction indices have increased by 1 percent for the second consecutive year and 401 bureaus out of 587 federal government components tallied higher levels of employee engagement.

The Federal Trade Commission and NASA ranked first and second for employee engagement at large agencies and were followed by the Office of Management and Budget in third, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fourth and Nuclear Regulatory Commission fifth.

OPM recorded a 71 percent employee engagement index result for the second consecutive year and its global satisfaction index reached 68 percent.

The Transportation Department has released a new policy that seeks to help automakers and technology firms ensure the safety of self-driving vehicles, USA Today reported Tuesday.

Marco della Cava writes DOT will consider new authorities that would restrict the deployment of experimental automated vehicles and release a model for state policies on self-driving cars in an effort to establish a national framework of rules for such vehicles.

The department will also require car manufacturers and other entities to complete a 15-point safety evaluation report on self-driving cars, according to the report.

The Federal Automated Vehicles Policy states that the safety assessment should be submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s office of the chief counsel and should cover data sharing and recording, system safety, privacy, vehicle cybersecurity, consumer education and training, registration and certification as well as operational design domain, among other areas.

The report added that DOT will seek public input on the new policy over a 60-day period and plan to update the regulations on an annual basis.

The Senior Executives Association has named Bill Valdez, a former director at the Energy Department and senior adviser at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, as president of the Washington-based nonprofit that represents many senior-level federal executives.

Valdez joined SEA in 2000 and previously served as chair of the board of directors from 2011 through 2013, SEA said Tuesday.

“He upholds our core values of professional integrity and a strong commitment to public service and we are thrilled to have him once again in a leadership role within the organization,” said Board Chair Barbara Pabotoy.

Valdez spent more than two decades at DOE, where he held various director roles at the department’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Office of Science before he retired from federal service in 2014.

Valdez also previously served as a senior vice president at Consultants International Group and principal of Deep Water Point.

He is also an adjunct faculty member at American University’s School of Public Affairs.

SEA advocates for the interests of career federal executives to both Congress and the White House as well as provides data and services to SEA members.