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http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/17/news/economy/us-middle-class-basics-study/index.html
"Nearly 51 million households don't earn enough to afford a monthly budget that includes housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and a cell phone, according to a study released Thursday by the United Way ALICE Project. That's 43% of households in the United States."
The figure includes the 16.1 million households living in poverty, as well as the 34.7 million families that the United Way has dubbed ALICE -- Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. This group makes less than what's needed "to survive in the modern economy."
"Despite seemingly positive economic signs, the ALICE data shows that financial hardship is still a pervasive problem," said Stephanie Hoopes, the project's director.
California, New Mexico and Hawaii have the largest share of struggling families, at 49% each. North Dakota has the lowest at 32%.
Many of these folks are the nation's child care workers, home health aides, office assistants and store clerks, who work low-paying jobs and have little savings, the study noted. Some 66% of jobs in the US pay less than $20 an hour.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday May 21 2018, @02:16PM (3 children)
This.
Also worth noting, more and more services are online only theses days. Increasingly difficult to access your bank, since they are closing branches, reducing opening hours and reducing call centre staff/ quality.
More and more government services are moving online, and the offices where you used to access them (post offices, job centres etc) are being closed.
Rising car ownership costs mean that going to buy groceries in person at the supermarket is becoming less and less accessible. Sure, you could walk to the local corner shop, but then you have to pay 20% more for your food. Online shopping will eventually become a necessity.
Point is, internet access in the modern (first) world is less and less a luxury and more and more a necessity. Without it you risk becoming completely marginalised, pushed to the fringes of society. Therefore I don't begrudge the younger generation their phones. You can't expect people to live they way you did when you were a youngster with an onion on your belt, the world has changed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 21 2018, @02:33PM (2 children)
I don't have a car, do most of my shopping online, work online...spend most of my life online, but don't have a cellphone. Split among roommates, my share of the internet bill comes to less than $20/month.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday May 21 2018, @02:59PM (1 child)
Well that's very nice for you, but that's just not how the youngsters do it.
They don't see the point in buying / owning a computer + screen +landline + home broadband when they live in tiny, overpriced apartments where every bit of money and every square centimetre of space is at a premium. Why tie yourself to a box and a cable in your home when you could be looking stuff up on the move? Being able to access local information (bus times, weather, business opening times...) when out and about is really handy. One little gadget in your pocket (and you can pick up a refurbed, low end smartphone very cheap now) and a monthly (preferably sim-only) payment for both phone and internet and that's all you need. If I were in their shoes, it's exactly what I'd do.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @01:53AM
In the words of master Yoda: "That is why they fail."