More Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, even those making six figures.
Rapidly rising inflation is hitting our pocketbooks. A new report found 64% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The same is true for 48% of those earning more than a $100,000 a year. Economist Hank Lewis, at Lone Star College, says inflation in four categories is hurting Americans across the board.
“Housing, transportation, food, and energy. Those four costs have had noticeable increases in the worst ways in the past 18 months or so, and that’s what people spend most of their money on in a day-to-day basis,” Lewis said.
Economists believe that parts of the U.S. economy are dealing with stagflation: high inflation and stagnant output.
“If you have high debt and a lack of savings, it’s going to be much harder to manage in these times than if you have low debt and significant savings,” he explained. “People between 50 and 100 thousand dollars, those who said they were living paycheck to paycheck, they had the biggest disparity in savings and debt.”
Lewis says this is why the Federal Reserve should have raised interest rates months ago.