The Bureau of Economic Analysis released the advance report of the GDP for the second quarter 2024, reporting that the US grew at 2.8%, well ahead of the expectations for 2% growth.
But the latest survey of employees and job seekers by the Freedom Economy Index found that nearly half report their personal financial situation is “much worse” than a year ago.
46.7% of respondents say their situation is “much worse,” and another 28% say its “somewhat worse.” Less than 10% say their financial situation has improved greatly or somewhat.
“What families are feeling just doesn’t mesh with the government reporting,” said RedBalloon CEO Andrew Crapuchettes, an early pioneer of labor market data and analytics. “And in the labor market, wage increases just haven’t been able to keep pace with inflation and high interest rate costs.”
4 in 10 survey respondents say they’ve had to delay bill payments to make ends meet, and 43.5% of those who rent say that high mortgage rates have priced them out of the buying market.
“I was hoping to buy a home this year, but now I am using my down payment for living expenses,” wrote one respondent. “I currently can't afford to buy a home and soon won't be able to pay rent,” wrote another.
According to the Freedom Economy Index, 56% of homeowners currently report that they have a home mortgage interest rate below 4%, and of those, nearly half say they’d consider selling but won’t because they can’t afford to lose their low interest rates.
“It is going to be a long road for recovery, so the sooner we have better economic policy handed down in Washington, the better,” concluded Crapuchettes.
The Freedom Economy Index survey is a joint project of RedBalloon.work, America’s #1 values-first job board, and PublicSquare. The FEI survey was conducted in June 2024 across a file of over 100,000 employees and job seekers, with a margin of error of 3% at the 95% confidence level.