[Market Watch] Missing more than one paycheck is a one-way ticket to financial hardship for nearly half of the country’s workforce.
| No doubt at least a quarter of that group are in the upper middle class, income-wise, choosing to live at the edge of their means. It used to be called keeping up with the Joneses. |
A new study from NORC at the University of Chicago, an independent social research institution, found that 51% of working adults in the United States would need to access savings to cover necessities if they missed more than one paycheck.
| Does this mean over half actually have savings accounts? And isn’t that what savings accounts are for? |
Certain communities were more prone to economic hardship in the event of missing a paycheck. Roughly two-thirds of households earning less than $30,000 annually
| ...the working poor, who nowadays get food stamps and other forms of aid for exactly that reason... |
and Hispanic households
| ...is that code for illegal immigrants? Why else pick them out, but not African-Americans? |
would be unable to cover basic living expenses after missing more than one paycheck, the researchers found.
The findings were based on a survey of more than 1,000 adults. The researchers interviewed a nationally representative panel designed to be indicative of the U.S. population.
The survey provides a sobering look at Americans’ precarious finances even as the economy is improving, jobs are more plentiful and the stock market has ‐ despite this week’s volatility ‐ generally continued its upward trajectory this year.
| The usual situation during recovery after a crash. This time it was made longer and deeper by vast ladlefuls of excessive regulations poured on by the Obama administration, including Obamacare. |
Though wage growth has accelerated recently, those gains have been concentrated among the wealthiest Americans most.
| But the vast number of newly employed has been concentrated among the formerly non-working poor, giving them the first step up the skills-and-salary ladder. |