41% of Americans Say They’re Financially Worse off than a Year Ago, Poll Says
The figures are well below people's financial optimism of last year
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41% of Americans say they are financially worse off today than one year ago, while 41% say they are financially better off, according to a new poll.
The figures are well below people's financial optimism in January 2020 before the pandemic.
Gallup, on its Jan. 3-16 survey, reported:
“Forty-one percent of U.S. adults now say they are better off financially than a year ago.”
“That is up slightly from 35% in January 2021 but still well below the record-high 59% reporting they were better off in January 2020, right before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“An identical 41% of adults now say they are financially worse off than a year ago, also up from 36% in 2021.”
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60% of Americans said they will be financially better off than now, looking ahead to next year.
Twenty-seven percent said they would be worse off.
However, “[t]he percentage of Americans who foresee improvement in their finances has dipped (although not significantly) from last year’s 63%,” reported Gallup.
“Again, inflation could be a factor behind this sentiment stagnating....”
“Both the current and 2021 readings contrast with the all-time high for financial optimism,” said the survey firm.
“That was recorded just before the pandemic, in January 2020, when 74% expected to be better off in a year’s time.”
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Gallup asked certain annual income groups:
“Would you say that you are financially better off now than you were a year ago, or are you financially worse off now?
For those earning $40,000 or less per year, 47% said they were better off, and 41% said they are worse off.
For those earning $40,000 to $99,999 a year, 0nly 33% said they were better off than last year; 47% said they were worse off.
“Americans are not feeling as flush financially as they were in January 2020 when public confidence in the economy was at a 20-year high, unemployment was at a 50-year low, and the stock market was soaring,” said Gallup.
“After tumbling in the initial months of the pandemic, people’s belief that they are better off financially than a year ago has only inched forward.”
“Lower-income Americans today perceive real improvement in their finances after their assessment plunged a year ago,” reported Gallup.
“These Americans may have been the most affected by the economic shutdowns in 2020 and the resulting spike in unemployment, whereas jobs are now plentiful. Middle- and upper-income Americans have grown less positive over the past year, perhaps because they are more focused on inflation.
As Breitbart reported:
U.S. consumer prices jumped by the most in nearly four decades as the new year started, sapping the savings of American families, diminishing the purchasing power of worker paychecks, and putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates beginning in March.
The consumer price index climbed 0.6 percent from a month before, the Department of Labor said Thursday. Compared with January of last year, consumer prices are up 7.5 percent.
Economists had expected prices to rise 0.4 percent on a monthly basis and 7.2 percent above a year ago’s prices.
