29% of US households have jobs but struggle to cover basic needs: They are 'one emergency from poverty,' one expert says

Comments

• BoxerDevil@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  That percentage seems low

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  • bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The other 70 % are already in poverty.

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    • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Life is so much less stressful if you just embrace the poverty.

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  • candybrie@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It doesn’t include the 11% who meet the definition of poverty. Based on the definition on the ALICE page, it’s 29% of households above the poverty line who still can’t afford the basics. It doesn’t include people with inadequate savings who are making ends meet, albeit paycheck to paycheck, but who aren’t trying to choose between rent/food/transportation and racking up credit card debt.

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  • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Way low. A fifth of people in the US have no emergency fund at all. A third have something squirreled away but not enough to cover 3 months of expenses. That’s half the country right there that’s living on the edge of ruin.

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    • Sanctus@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’d save if I could. But yeah this sums it up.

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• obinice@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They’re Serfs, trapped in servitude with no escape, just how their Lords like it.

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  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Actual serfs had more free time and ability to work for themselves, but they were far more constrained to their station.

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• LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I have a job. For years I’ve been trying to save up for an air conditioner. “Maybe I’ll finally have enough saved up by this summer. No probably by winter I’ll be able to afford one.” is what I’m telling myself now and what I’ve been telling myself for years.

  anyway, last summer All I could do exhausted after work everyday was lay here and sweat on a towel and drink water.

  pretty sure I did that the summer before also.

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  • return2ozma@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Can you buy it on something like Affirm?

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• yokonzo@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Hi I’m the 29% 👋 AMA

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• hanrahan@slrpnk.net ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Voters love this so much they keep re-electing the same people.

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• TokenBoomer@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Me lord likes the precarious.

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