“Inescapable.” “It’s a constant stressor.” “I see no way out.” What do professors, real estate agents, farmers, business executives, computer programmers and store clerks have in common? They’re not immune to the harsh reality of living paycheck to paycheck, according to dozens of people who responded to a Washington Post …
But the gap is closing ALL men are created equal, but they do not stay that way for long. That is one message of a report this month by the OECD, a club of 35 mostly rich democracies. Many studies show how income gaps have evolved over time or between …
More Americans are making more money. The U.S. Census Bureau released new numbers on Tuesday showing that, after a brutal economic recession and years of stagnation, real median household incomes rose from $53,718 in 2014 to $56,516 last year. That’s a 5.2 percent rise — the first statistically significant increase …
One in seven U.S. households has a negative net worth, as student loans and credit cards plunge a diverse group of people—including those with good jobs—into the red. There are really two ways to be poor. Some people just don’t earn much money. Almost 15 percent of Americans, or 47 …
Ever feel as though you’re not getting ahead financially? Join the club. The very big club. A new study shows that across the world’s 25 advanced economies, two-thirds of households are earning the same as, or less than, they did a decade ago. McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of …
NEW YORK (AP) — The lenders who advance poor people money on their paychecks charge exorbitant interest rates that often snare the most vulnerable customers in a cycle of debt, the industry’s critics have long said. Yet even consumer advocates who loathe the industry admit it fulfills a need: Providing …
CHICAGO (AP) — Taking Social Security benefits early comes with a price, yet more than 4 in 10 Americans who are 50 and over say they’ll dip into the program before reaching full retirement age. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Thursday found that 44 percent …
The great American shrinking middle class is not just a Rust Belt or Southern phenomenon. The great shrinking of the middle class that has captured the attention of the nation is not only playing out in troubled regions like the Rust Belt, Appalachia and the Deep South, but in just about …
From a father on the poverty line to a CEO millionaire. The poverty line for a family of three is $20,090 a year. The median household income in America is $53,657. Politicians draw $250,000 as the line between the middle and upper classes. And the true starting point of real …
Despite the country’s unemployment rate falling below 5% in January for the first time since 2008, and the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006, concerns about wage growth — particularly among middle earners — remain. Since 2010, as the country began to recover …
While the US economy has been growing, many Americans haven’t felt an increase in wages. But that is slowly changing, and could accelerate in 2016. WASHINGTON — One of the most persistent weak spots in the United States economy – wages – might be finally turning a corner from stagnation …
