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While America has sent over $60 billion to keep bloodying the killing fields of Ukraine and enriching the military industrial complex, a poll released last week by the American Staffing Association found that about 60 percent of American workers said their paycheck will not be enough to provide for their families as the country deals with runaway inflation and higher energy costs.
The online survey found 58 percent of employed U.S. adults expressed the concern, led by 69 percent of Hispanic workers and parents with children under 18 (66 percent).
About 28 percent of those polled said they plan to search for a new job in the next six months in an effort to fight the trend. About 27 percent said they are eyeing a second job.
“Workers are concerned about the effects of inflation, and they’re planning on taking action,” Richard Wahlquist, the ASA president and CEO, said. “Employers need to provide competitive compensation and work flexibility, and invest in employees’ professional development, if they want to keep and recruit quality talent in this labor market.”
Baby Boomers were least likely to say they would look for a new job or ask for a raise due to their age.
The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the financial strain that many Americans are facing. (See “TOP TREND 2022- UNIONIZATION: LACK OF COMPETITION CUTS WORKERS’ LEVERAGE,” “TOP 2022 TREND, ‘UNIONIZATION,’ ON THE RISE,” “EMPLOYERS: ‘COME BACK TO THE OFFICE.’ WORKERS: ‘I WANT TO WORK FROM HOME” and the 14 Jun 2022 “ECONOMIC AND MARKET OVERVIEW.”)
The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates in an effort to bring down the inflation rate that hit 9.1 percent in June, which was the fastest rate increase since 1981. The problem is not isolated in the United States. The International Monetary Fund said inflation will reach about 6.6 percent in advanced economies and 9.5 in emerging markets.
The Commerce Department announced last week that the U.S. gross domestic product shrank again for the third straight month, which is generally considered the beginning of a recession.
President Joe Biden said the U.S. has strong unemployment numbers and new investments in manufacturing, and insisted that the economy is not in a recession.
“Number One, we have a record job market, and record unemployment of 3.6 percent, and businesses are investing in America at record rates,” he said. He continued, “that doesn’t sound like a recession to me.”
The Wall Street Journal said the “unofficial” definition of a recession is when there are two quarters of shrinking economic output.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points for the second straight month.
Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, agreed with his boss and said he does not believe the U.S. is in a recession because of the strong job market. He said, “2.7 million people hired in the first half of the year, it doesn’t make sense that the economy would be in recession,” the Journal reported.
He continued, “Generally the GDP numbers do have a tendency to be revised pretty significantly. You tend to take first GDP reports with a grain of salt.”
The Commerce Department said Friday that consumers increased their spending by 1.1 percent in June, which is an increase from 0.3 percent in May, the paper reported. Spending was nearly flat when adjusting for inflation.
The ASA poll was conducted online in early June and included 2,027 adults in the U.S., including 1,165 who were employed.
TRENDPOST: The ASA poll followed a survey released earlier in the month by the American Psychiatric Association showed that 87 percent of Americans admitted that they are either anxious or very anxious about inflation.
“Healthy Minds Monthly is showing us that the economy seems to have supplanted COVID as a major factor in American’s day-to-day anxiety,” Rebecca Brendel, president of the APA, said.
The number of those concerned is up about eight percent from the previous month. Besides the stress of inflation, 51 percent of those polled said they were concerned about the possible loss of income.
“This context is important for psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians to take into account as we see our patients, especially as it pertains to affordability and availability of care,” she said.
Both the COVID-19 anxiety and inflation is a direct result of the disastrous government mishandling of the virus outbreak and inflation, which was brushed off as “transitory” for months before the Biden administration took it seriously. (See “FROM ‘TEMPORARY’ TO ‘TRANSITORY’ INFLATION KEEPS SPIKING” and “INFLATION RISING. NOT ‘TEMPORARY’ OR ‘TRANSITORY.’” (26 Oct 2021.)
NOTE TO READERS: As long ago as 4 August, 2020, we warned in our “Global Economic Trends” section that COVID War mandates would lead to inflation and that those disruptions would make inflation a long-term problem (“Consumer Prices Rise in July,” 18 Aug 2021).