OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
According to a new survey, nearly 40% of Americans are worried about being able to pay all of their bills on time.
This is a higher percentage than during the Great Recession of 2008-09. A CNN poll revealed that 39% of Americans are concerned about consistently paying their bills, which is a 33% increase from the peak of Bidenflation. This exceeds the 37% during the 2008 crisis, when unemployment was nearly 10%. Inflation during the Biden-Harris administration has reached new highs in the modern era.
While it has eased somewhat in recent months, it remains stubbornly high, raising the costs of food, gasoline, housing, and other basic amenities like utilities. Consumers are still trying to catch up to the price spikes of the last few years.
The Daily Signal, citing the survey, added:
Still trying to catch up is an understatement. The gap between nominal wages and inflation-adjusted wages since 2021 is more than 20%. So, it looks like you’re making a lot more, but even accounting for official inflation, workers have lost thousands in income.
Of course, if official inflation is a lie, which seems likely, going by real-world prices from housing to restaurants and groceries, then workers have lost a lot more.
To illustrate, official inflation since COVID-19 is 21%, but fast-food menu prices—a standard finance proxy for true inflation—are up more than twice that, while housing costs have doubled since COVID-19, between rising house prices and rising mortgage rates.
If those real-world numbers are closer to true inflation, then workers have lost potentially thousands per month.
CNN reported that 35 percent of respondents, or over one-third, have had to take on additional part-time work to make ends meet. This includes 44% of Black individuals, 52% of Latinos, and nearly half of workers under age 45.
“That explains why jobs are rising on paper, yet the actual number of employed Americans is plunging—down 600,000 in the past eight months alone,” the Daily Signal added.
The survey also found that more than two-thirds of Americans are cutting back on their grocery spending, and almost half are driving less to save on gas. Additionally, 4 in 10 Americans are turning to credit cards to cover essential expenses like groceries and gas.
The Labor Department’s earlier this month released data revealed that employers only added 114,000 jobs in July, falling short of the 175,000 gain that LSEG economists had predicted.
The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.3% from 4.1%, contrary to expectations of it remaining stable.
“It marked the highest level for the jobless rate since October 2021,” Fox Business reported.
“Temperatures might be hot around the country, but there’s no summer heatwave for the job market,” Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManPowerGroup North America, told Fox Business. “With across-the-board cooling, we have lost most of the gains we saw from the first quarter of the year.”
The recent Labor Department report provides further evidence that the economy is weakening due to persistent inflation and high interest rates. As a result, stock futures plummeted for a time earlier this month, sparking renewed concerns about an impending recession. Last week, Dow futures dropped by more than 500 points.
