Americans are living in 2 parallel economies
While the wealth divide has only widened over the last few years, early pandemic-era policies provided a brief reprieve. Expanded unemployment benefits, three rounds of stimulus checks, an eviction ban, and low interest rates helped some lower-wage workers get ahead. All of these have now ended, however.
For lower income Americans, the days of the labor shortage — in which jobs were abundant and everyone was quitting for higher pay — are numbered. Job openings are ticking down, unemployment claims are ticking up, and inflation remains near record levels, wiping out much of their earnings gains.
In June, 61% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, per a LendingClub report, — a number that's ticked up in recent months as average savings have fallen. While most borrowers remain well-positioned to make payments, this is becoming much more challenging for lower-income households than those making more than $50,000 annually, per data from the New York Fed.
Wealthier Americans seem to be doing just fine. While inflation is a nuisance, many have enough savings built up to continue spending, and given the unemployment rate remains low, most can rely on a steady source of income. $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US$ $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US$ $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US$ $SPDR S&P 500 ETF(SPY.US$ $Invesco QQQ Trust(QQQ.US$
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whqqq : Low unemployment rate? Really?