Hand-to-mouth nation: Roughly 40 percent of US households living paycheck to paycheck but two thirds of these families are not considered poor by economic definitions.
People have a hard time believing that in the wealthiest country in the world, we have close to half of our population living hand-to-mouth bouncing from one paycheck to another. A recent paper released by the Brookings Institution’s BPEA conference shows that people living hand-to-mouth are largely those with “middle class†incomes. Of course middle […]
A land of low-wage jobs: For every job that pays above the low-wage threshold of $15 an hour you have 7 job-seekers. 51.4 million low-wage jobs in U.S.
The Great Recession has only accelerated deeper structural changes to our economy when it comes to low-wage employment. While many good paying jobs were lost during the Great Recession many of the new jobs have come in the form of low-wage employment. Large organizations have used this slack in the market to reduce wages, cut […]
The perpetually depressed American consumer: Stock market high and bounce in real estate does not assist in boosting consumer confidence. 57 percent of Americans think economic outlook is getting worse.
Looking at the stock market and real estate prices would lead you to believe that the economy is recovering at a healthy clip. The underlying conditions of the economy may benefit the financial and real estate sectors (both live off each other) yet for most American families conditions are not rosy. In fact consumer confidence […]
The dual income conundrum – Americans need to work two jobs to make up for stagnant wages and the sinister impact of a middle class being eaten away by inflation.
In the United States the dual income household is the status quo. In the late 1960s dual income households were not common. Today however two income households are the majority largely because many Americans require two incomes just to stay afloat. This has been labeled as the “two income trap†and in many ways, it […]