The Daily Money: High inflation slamming seniors, making more Americans take on second gig
Happy Monday, Daily Money readers. It’s Bailey Schulz here to bring you the day’s top headlines.
The number of Americans working two or more jobs has reached its highest level since the pandemic’s start. Nearly 8.4 million people – 5.2% of the workforce – held multiple jobs in October. It’s the largest share of moonlighters since January 2020.
Experts say people may be taking on extra work in response to inflation, which pushed prices up 4.7% in 2021, 8% in 2022 and 3.5% so far in 2023. People could also be bracing for possible layoffs, which tend to peak at the start of a new year, or padding their coffers for the holidays.
“Paying for necessities has become more of a challenge, and affording luxuries and discretionary items has become more difficult, if not impossible for some, particularly those at the lower ends of the income and wealth spectrums,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, in an email.
Social Security checks are up, but still not enough for many seniors
Social Security checks will increase next year thanks to a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 3.2%, but many seniors say the hikes are falling short as the cost of items older adults spend most of their money on – including healthcare – consistently outpaces COLA.
More than one-quarter of the 1,055 adults surveyed by The Senior Citizens League in the first three months of the year said they had depleted a retirement account over the past 12 months, up from 20% in the second half of last year. A record 45% said they carried credit card debt for more than 90 days even as interest rates soared, the League said.
Poverty has increased among Americans age 65 and older for three years in a row to 14.1% in 2022 from 10.7% in 2021, according to the latest Census Bureau data.
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Check your freezer for “Fun Nuggets.” Tyson Foods has recalled the line of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets after customers reported that the food was contaminated with "metal pieces." One minor oral injury was reported in the release announcing the recall.
Approximately 16,500 packages of the product were shipped to distributors in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin to be sent to stores. The affected products were made on Sept. 5 and have an establishment label of P-7211.
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Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from Paste BN. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.