I’ve been feeling like a gerbil on his wheel economically. Month after month, the bills come in and no matter what we do, regardless of whether there is a bit of extra earnings from freelance work or my wife’s side jewelry business, we still can’t seem to get ahead.
We pay off the credit cards and the dog gets sick. We make some headway on an equity loan and the pool filter dies. Gas prices rise, the cost of groceries soar and at the end of each month the balances in the checking and savings accounts seem a bit smaller than the month before.
It is depressing, but not unusual. The Monmouth University Polling Institute issued a new poll today showing that most New Jersey families say “their earnings can’t keep up with the rising cost of living in the Garden State” and that “many of the state’s households require multiple incomes to keep afloat and fewer than half have saved enough money to cover their living expenses in an emergency.”
The numbers show that economic uncertainty is the norm in New Jersey. A shocking 59 percent of the 804 New Jersey residents polled said their family’s income is falling behind the cost of living (the figure nationally, according to a fall Pew Research Center poll, was 40 percent), while just 30 percent believe they are keeping pace and 6 percent say their incomes are rising more quickly.
And the less you make the more uncertainty there is. According to the Monmouth poll, 72 percent of those polled who have household incomes of less than $50,000 said the cost of living was rising faster than their wages. The figure for households making between $50,000 and $100,000 was 64 percent, while just 44 percent of those earning more than $100,000 believed they were falling behind.
Other numbers:
- 13 percent of those earning $100,000 or more say their incomes are rising faster than the cost of living, compared to 4 percent for each of the other income brackets. Nationally, 29 percent of those earning $100,000 or more say their family’s income is going up faster than the cost of living.
- 21 percent of lower-income, 30 percent of middle-income and 40 percent of higher-income residents say they are keeping pace.
- 46 percent of New Jersey households have two or more incomes, including 29 percent of those earning below $50,000 a year, 48 percent of those earning $50,000 to $100,000, and 72 percent of those earning more than $100,000. Two-thirds of two-income households say they need the extra money to meet monthly living expenses, 8 percent cite savings, 7 percent cite school costs, 5 percent cite health care and 3 percent cite child care.
The problem is not income levels generally — New Jersey is among the wealthiest states in the country — but stagnant incomes and rising costs. Milk prices have risen from an average of $3.60 a gallon in 2006 to about $3.65 for the first six months of 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And they are expected ton continue climbing, perhaps more steeply, for the rest of the year.
It’s not just milk or gas prices. Everything’s rising, including our taxes. And while our incomes are inching upward, for most — as this poll shows — it is not enough.
And my bank account balances are proof.
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Hank Kalet 