Americans have jobs. they are getting a raise. And none are sufficient to meet the rising cost of living.
According to the latest Federal Reserve survey of Americans’ economic well-being, released Monday, 73% of American adults said they were “at least financially okay,” down from 78% in 2021. plummeted to 73%. About 35% of Americans say they are in a worse situation than they were a year ago, up from 20% in 2021 and the highest percentage in the nine years since the question was asked. Only 19% said their lives were better than they were a year ago.
The decline in fiscal health was widespread across races, ethnicities, educational categories and income brackets.
Data from the Fed Research on household economics and decision-making, like other surveys showing Americans feel depressed about the economy and their finances. But the study provides new details about how the economic cross-fluid from a strong job market and rising prices is affecting households.
The job market is in many ways the best in decades, with unemployment at a nearly half-century low, job openings near record highs, and workers empowered to demand higher wages. I feel that The benefits of that environment were clear in the Fed’s survey, with respondents saying they were more likely to ask for and receive raises and promotions than in previous years and were less likely to be out of work. About 33% of respondents said their income increased in the past year, up from 30% in 2021.
However, those gains were offset by higher prices. Only 49% of Americans say their monthly spending is less than their income, down from 55% in 2021. Nearly two-thirds said they used less of the product or stopped using it entirely because of inflation. More than half said their savings had fallen.
The decline in overall well-being in 2022 was the largest in the decade-long history of the survey, but this is because the federal government still provides many households with high levels of assistance through expanding the child tax credit. and other programs partially reflecting the gains made in 2021. In 2019, pre-pandemic, 75% of adults said they were at least financially okay, slightly higher than in 2022.
Democratic leaders, including some White House officials, have at times dismissed economic sentiment surveys, arguing that more specific measures of income and employment tell a more optimistic narrative. Overall personal incomes have generally risen, even after adjusting for inflation, but growth has slowed in recent months, with wages rising fastest among the lowest-income workers.
But Fed officials said in a call with reporters that the survey showed declines not only in subjective measures of business confidence, but also in more objective measures. For example, only 63% said they had cash to cover a $400 emergency expense, down from 68% in 2021.
The study, based on in-depth interviews with more than 11,000 US households, was conducted in October.
