Expensive to Be Poor: Expenses Twice as Much as Income for Bottom 20% of US Households | FDL News Desk

 Expensive to Be Poor: Expenses Twice as Much as Income for Bottom 20% of US Households | FDL News Desk

A new study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics out today probably won’t get as much notice as their other report showing the US gained 386,000 jobs more than expected. However, this one shows a persistent problem in America, that it’s actually expensive to be poor.
The average individual in the lowest 20% of the income ladder had take-home pay of $10,074 and average expenses of $22,011. That’s more than double, and it makes being poor nearly impossible to manage. The story for the second and third quintiles weren’t much better, with their expenses roughly commensurate to their income, meaning they live paycheck-to-paycheck and save next to nothing. But the expenses-versus-income report for the poorest Americans is almost unreal.


 
Or to put it another way, since 2009, 620,00 middle-class jobs have been eliminated and are not coming back.

 Living Paycheck To Paycheck: Two-Thirds Of Americans Are Struggling To Get By