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Consumers’ confidence, spending less buoyant than their job prospects

Oct 1, 2021
Inflation is eating away at incomes while the delta variant is discouraging consumers from going out and spending.
After accounting for inflation, the August consumer spending and income statistics were unimpressive.
Drew Angerer via Getty Images

The child tax credit is a first shot at stability for some families

Jul 13, 2021
The monthly payments can lead to small changes that have long-term effects, experts say.
The upcoming child tax credit payments could give some families a chance to invest in their kids' futures.
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Household debt up 4% in the first quarter

Jun 12, 2020
About 1 in 6 households reports having more debt now than before the COVID-19 crisis.
David McNew/Getty Images

People across most income groups are more anxious about the economy during COVID-19

May 5, 2020
But those earning under $25,000 are about as anxious now as they were before the pandemic.
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The amount of money people took home last year was the same as the year before

Sep 10, 2019
The median U.S. household income was $533 higher last year than in 2017, which economists say is statistically insignificant.
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Student loans make wealth gap worse for blacks

Sep 27, 2018
New study examines race and student debt.
Students walk through the campus of Yale University. 
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Fed finds financial crisis cost the average American $70,000

Aug 14, 2018
U.S. economic growth surged in the second quarter to 4.1 percent on an annualized basis. But that’s decidedly out of sync with the overall slow economic growth we’ve seen year after year since the Great Recession. A new report from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco suggests the financial crisis of 2008 shaved 7 […]
News tickers at the Nasdaq MarketSite show negative numbers October 9, 2008 in New York City. The Dow Jones industrials lost 678 points to close below 8,600 today as the financial crisis deepens.
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Men make more from their side hustles

Jun 26, 2018
A new survey from Bankrate.com finds nearly four in ten Americans have a side hustle. It’s a thing for millennials … and lots of other people too. Most do it to pad their income but nearly 40 percent take on extra work to make ends meet. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Full-time minimum-wage workers will have to sacrifice more of their earnings to make rent

Jun 14, 2018
In order to afford a modest one-bedroom rental, an American would, on average, have to make $17.90 an hour. This is according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. There’s just one problem — $17.90 is far above the federal minimum wage. It means there are a lot of people who can’t really afford their […]