Work is meant for man, not man for work. However, the latter has become very true as due to a combination of factors, but especially the inflation of the currency in combination with economic stagnation of wages, growth, or both as well and the continual and unnatural expansion of the labor pool at a time when the job pool itself is decreasing has generated a situation where a man works significantly more for significantly less. According to a study, one-third of workers now are in a situation where they run out of money before payday, forcing them to take loans and use credit to service debts in a dangerous cycle that can push a man into poverty and is affecting all classes, from the poor to those who earn above-average incomes.
Going extra light at the grocery store. Cutting down on medical supplies. Buying clothing and household supplies secondhand.
These are just some of the many ways many Americans are making it work when money is tight. For about a third of Americans, this is a regular financial stress, with 32% running out of money before their next paycheck hits, according to a new survey fielded by Salary Finance of over 2,700 U.S. adults working at companies with over 500 employees.
Amy,* 36, is intimately familiar with running short on cash and using these workarounds, especially during tax season. That’s in spite of the fact that she and her husband make about $50,000 a year, just short of the average household income in the U.S.
“Tax time hurts for us because we don’t get a refund, we get a bill,” she tells CNBC Make It. Her husband, the primary earner, works for a company in a different state, so state income taxes aren’t taken out, she says. While they typically get a federal refund, they end up owing the state more than the federal refund.
Contrary to popular belief, “this is not just an issue for people at the lower end of the income spectrum,” Dan Macklin, Salary Finance’s U.S. CEO and co-founder of SoFi, tells CNBC Make It. About 31% of respondents earning over $100,000 also regularly experience a budget shortfall before payday.
For many, it’s the rising cost of living — including food, housing, education and medical expenses — that creates the squeeze. Over the past year, basic costs increased by 2.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Consumer Price Index. The cost of medical care rose 4.6% in 2019, the largest year-over-year increase since 2007, the BLS reports. Housing also jumped 3.2% last year, while education expenses rose 2.1% and food prices increased about 1.8%.
For others, it’s stagnant wages. Real wages effectively remained stalled last year, showing only a 0.2% year-over-year increase, according to the PayScale Index. But looking longer term, Payscale found median wages, when adjusted for inflation, actually declined 9% since 2006.
No matter the underlying reason, the struggle to pay bills and put food on the table when you’re short on cash leads to a lot of stress, the survey finds. Financial stress is very prevalent today, with 42% of working Americans experiencing it. It’s a percentage that Macklin finds “extremely worrying.”
That’s because that financial stress can have lasting effects on your mental and physical health, he says. Those with financial worries are six times more likely to suffer from anxiety and seven times more prone to depression, Salary Finance’s survey found. (source)