As the U.S. grapples with an affordability crisis, “CBS Evening News” spoke to Americans who are struggling to make ends meet.
They’re not alone: A recent CBS News poll found two out of three Americans are stressed about their finances, and three out of four said their incomes aren’t keeping up with inflation.
CBS News spoke to a teacher who has taken on a second job to pay the bills, a police officer trying to buy a home for his family and a 70-year-old widow looking for work.
A teacher delivers for DoorDash: “It takes multiple incomes to survive in this economy”
Michelle Boisjoli, a 37-year-old mom of three, is a teacher earning $37,000 a year in St. Louis County, Minnesota.
Teaching is “definitely not something that people go into for the money,” she said. “They go into it because they love it, which is why so many of us do have to work two jobs to make ends meet. It takes multiple incomes to survive in this economy.”
To supplement her income and afford rising costs, Boisjoli has started delivering for DoorDash after work.
She said she tries “to make every dollar count,” feeding her kids first and then eating their leftovers.
The average salary for teachers is around $72,000 per year and $46,000 for starting salaries, according to the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the U.S. Even with record pay increases in some states, teachers are still making 5% less than they did 10 years ago when adjusted for inflation.
“I always grew up thinking about the stereotypical American dream, where you own a house and you have a yard to play in, and I think that dream is dying,” Boisjoli said.
“A lot of the people making the decisions for us are wealthy…don’t know what it’s like to work two jobs, don’t know what it’s like to have to pay for gas with quarters, and yet they’re making the decisions for us,” she said. “If they knew a little bit about the average person who is fighting every day to make ends meet, I think maybe they would make decisions that were actually helpful for the average person.”
For this police officer, homeownership feels out of reach
Anthony Bartolini, 29, has been a police officer in Waterbury, Connecticut, for about a year. He and his wife have been looking to buy a house for a few years for their family of five.
“We’ve been having trouble finding the right home, because the bigger the home, the more expensive it gets, and we need the room for the family, the dogs, they need a yard to run around in,” he said.
“To put 20% down on a house, that’s a lot of money. Even I can’t do it, working double shifts,” he said. “In today’s economy, even if I got a second job, I wouldn’t be able to afford it.”
The dream of homeownership is fading for millions of Americans. Last year, only 24% of housing sales were by first-time homebuyers — down from 50% in 2010, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors. The average homebuyer is now 38 years old — about 10 years above historical norms.
Only about 1 in 5 listed homes in March were affordable for households with $75,000 in annual income, according to a NAR analysis of property listings. Today, a household with an annual income of $50,000 can only afford 8.7% of listings, down from 9.4% a year ago, according to the data.
CBS News went with Bartolini as he toured a house for sale — but the sellers had accepted an offer above the asking price before they arrived.
“You do get defeated knowing that homes are so expensive after looking today,” Bartolini said. “I hope people in power, they change the price of things. There has to be a way to make everything go cheaper. There’s no way that it can just keep going up and up and up cause then people won’t be able to live.”
A 70-year-old widow seeks new work: “Hard for me just to survive”
Olivia Moreno Carlson, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is 70 years old but can’t afford to retire on Social Security alone. After paying the monthly lot rent for her mobile home, she has $190 left over for bills and expenses, and she’s looking for work after recently losing her job in retail.
Moreno Carlson cared for her husband, who had multiple sclerosis, until his death in 2016.
CBS News went with Moreno Carlson as she visited the library to use their internet for her job search and as she stopped into Walgreens to check on a recent job application there.
“I have a masters in counseling,” she said. “I did not think that being 70 would be like this.”
About one in five people over age 65, or approximately 11 million Americans, are still working — a twofold jump from the 1980s, according to the Pew Research Center.
Millions of Americans nearing their golden years are still financially unprepared for retirement. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, 50% of women and 47% of men between the ages of 55 and 66 have no retirement savings.
Moreno Carlson turns to her bible study class to help her persevere, telling CBS News that “there are times I do feel like giving up.”
“My biggest obstacle right now is being able to support myself. It is hard for me just to survive,” she said. “I wish people in power would think more with their heart.”
She added, “It is hard for me to accept that I am not able to enjoy the rest of my life because I have worked hard all my life.”
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