The US economy has seen many seasons. Growth charts have oscillated, and inflation has peaked and softened. Job numbers have risen and fallen. But a peek inside the American homes is offering a lugubrious picture. At kitchen tables where bills are sorted and calculators blink into the night, the furrows on the foreheads of Americans narrate the rest of the story. A new national survey by Resume Now, titled the 2026 Cost-of-Living Crunch Report, lays bare what millions already feel: the math no longer works.
The most arresting figure in the Resume Now survey, that is conducted with 1,011 US adults on December 7, 2026. Just 12% of workers say their wages have kept pace with inflation.
That means nearly nine out of ten Americans believe their paychecks are losing the race against rising prices.
Even fewer, only 17%, report that they can comfortably cover essential expenses and still save for the future. The chapter has changed from luxury sacrifices to survival arithmetic.
The wage-income mismatch
According to Resume Now’s findings:
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9% say they often cannot afford basic living expenses at all.
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15% can afford essentials but struggle significantly.
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27% can cover essentials but rarely have money left over.
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31% manage essentials and some extras.
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Only 17% feel secure enough to save.
In effect, more than half the country is either teetering or treading water. Financial security has become a narrow ledge rather than a stable platform.
The report further reveals in a functioning job market, wages typically rise in tandem with productivity and the cost of living. What the latest data suggests, however, is a reversal of that logic. As per the 2026 Cost-of-Living Crunch Report by Resume Now, 65% of respondents named everyday essentials as their greatest source of financial stress, and 43% named housing expenses.
Healthcare bills were a source of worry for 37%, which is the same percentage that lamented the lack of emergency savings as a pressing issue.
At the same time, 38% were worried about their capacity to save for retirement. Taken together, these statistics make it clear that the most basic job of wage growth is being undermined: to ensure access to food, shelter, healthcare, and financial security.
The presence of necessities in financial stress means that the cost structure is not being matched by the labor market.
When necessities dominate financial stress, it signals that the labour market is not keeping pace with rising cost structures.
A disconnect that shapes not only household budgets but also worker confidence, mobility, and long-term economic behaviour.
The rise of defensive employment
The survey paints a portrait of workers in defensive mode:
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92% cut spending in 2025.
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49% dipped into savings.
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24% took on debt.
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28% sought additional income.
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42% delayed major purchases or life milestones.
These are not the actions of a confident workforce. These are survival strategies.
When half the workforce is drawing down savings just to sustain everyday living, job security becomes fragile in psychological terms, even if employment remains technically stable.
The labour market may be producing paychecks, but it is not delivering resilience.
Growing dependence on external support may be one of the clearest indicators of weakening wage leverage in the American job market. As per the findings of Resume Now, 46% of the respondents feel that they are seeking more help from outside sources than they did in the last year, whether it is from family members, the government, or borrowed funds, while only 13% feel that they are seeking less help.
This trend is a warning sign in itself. When people are unable to earn compensation that keeps pace with inflation, they are left with no choice but to find other ways to fill the gap. When the labour market is strong, employment provides enough for families to save and build a financial cushion. When it is weak, paychecks are not enough, and expenses, debt, reliance, and deferred payments start to add up.
A thin financial cushion
The fragility becomes clearer when examining job-loss resilience:
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24% could cover less than one month of expenses if they lost their job.
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36% could last one to three months.
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Only 22% could survive beyond six months.
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That means 60% of households could cover three months or less.
In practical terms, this indicates that employment is no longer building buffers. It is barely sustaining continuity.
A labour market that leaves most workers three paycheques away from crisis cannot credibly be described as strong, regardless of hiring numbers.
The structural message
What does this reveal about the American job market? First, employment alone is no longer a sufficient indicator of stability. Second, wage growth is not synchronised with cost growth. Third, worker bargaining power appears limited despite continued participation in the workforce.
The data does not tell a story of mass unemployment, but something more troubling: Widespread under protection. When only 12% believe their wages have kept up with inflation, the issue is not job availability. It is wage adequacy.
The risk ahead
If this trajectory continues, the repercussions for the labour maket could reverberate in a murkier manner:
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Increased job-hopping driven by necessity rather than ambition.
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Reduced retirement readiness.
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Greater reliance on gig work and secondary income streams.
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Heightened employee disengagement and burnout.
The American labour market is still functioning, but it is operating under strain. The headline numbers may say “employed. ” The lived reality says “exposed. ”
And when work no longer guarantees forward movement, the social contract between labour and compensation begins to fracture.
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