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By Omar Mohammed
Reporter, Economy & Finance
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Middle-class Americans say they are struggling financially even amid reports of an economy that is growing and a labor market that appears to offer jobs aplenty, a poll revealed on Tuesday.
Sixty-five percent of Americans whose incomes are 200 percent above the national poverty line expressed pessimism that their financial struggles will improve over the course of their lifetime, according to a poll from the National True Cost of Living Coalition, a statement of which was shared with Newsweek. In 2024, the federal poverty line was at a little over $15,000.
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This group of middle-class Americans constitutes those with high school diplomas and graduate degrees and is spread across blue- and white-collar workers who live in both rural and urban America. While they may be able to afford the basics, these Americans struggle to plan and save for the future.
Forty percent told pollsters that they cannot contemplate their daily economic life beyond their upcoming pay while close to half say that they don't have $500 put aside for contingencies. They are also worried about the cost of housing, the cost of child care, education and debt.
The survey comes at a time when the economy appears to have overcome the effects of high inflation and elevated borrowing costs that have made loans for things like homes, cars and business investment expensive. The unemployment rate has been historically low, under 4 percent for more than two years with jobs seemingly available for anyone who wants one. Meanwhile, the economy expanded by 1.3 percent to begin the year on the back of consumer spending.
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But the poll from the National True Cost of Living Coalition shows that despite this robust economy, Americans are not thriving.
"The economy is booming, and yet many Americans are still gasping for air financially. They simply don't have the breathing room to plan beyond their present needs," said Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, part of the National True Cost of Living Coalition
The coalition suggested there needs to be a better way of measuring economic well-being and said in its statement that it was working with the think tank the Urban Institute to come up with a new approach to account for the cost of living schools set to be revealed later in the year.
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"As a nation, it is critical that we understand the true cost of living in the United States today. That means looking beyond the most basic of economic needs to account for what 21st century Americans need to not only get by but get ahead and also plan for tomorrow," Austin said.
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