Moreover, middle class Americans are paying a greater percentage of their earnings than ever before for health care, according to a report by The Commonwealth Fund, which said that rising premium and deductibles contributions have outstripped wage growth over the past decade. reported having major, unexpected medical bills to pay in 2018. The costs are so high that 25% of Americans say they "skipped necessary medical care" in 2018 because they were unable to afford the cost, according to the Federal Reserve's most recent Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. "Having insurance or health care is important to your mental quality of life, whether you use it or not." "Increasing cost of health care and concerns of health care and access to affordable health care can cause anxiety and issue whether you use it or not," Reeves told ABC News. Healthcare is routinely at the top of the list of voters' concerns and for good reason. Sudden policy changes or other unexpected economic circumstance changes "could land all the harder on households with no emergency cushion," he added.Ī lack of savings and living paycheck-to-paycheck is also an issue as Americans are currently living longer than ever, and may face outliving their retirement funds or "face additional shortfalls if their investment returns fall short," Earle said. That means the vast majority of Americans have no significant savings to speak of to guard against a rainy day.
Moreover, approximately a third of those people living paycheck-to-paycheck are categorized as in the middle class based on their income levels, and about 75% of them are in debt. Earle, an economic researcher at the independent think tank the American Institute for Economic Research. Surviving paycheck-to-paycheckĪlmost 80% of Americans now live paycheck to paycheck, meaning they have no significant savings, according to Peter C. Real wages at the top 90th percentile, however, increased by approximately 38% during that same time. According to the report’s data, overall median real-wages increased approximately 6% between 19. "So I think we need to strengthen work and the wages that they get."Ī 2019 Congressional Research Service report found that inflation-adjusted wages “stagnated or fell” for those in the middle and bottom income percentiles between 19, while they rose for those at the top of the distribution.
“Most American families get their income from work," she added.
#Economic issues full
We’re still not seeing a full recovery in terms of wages and living standards.” "Many families are still feeling the after-effects of the Great Recession," Gould told ABC News, referencing the downturn following the 2008 financial crash.
0 kommentar(er)
