Fighting for Affordability

A New Survey Shines a Light on the Affordability Crisis Facing Working People, and AFT Launches a New Campaign to Address It

Working people are being crushed by rising costs. A new survey we released last week with Protect Borrowers goes beyond the headlines on rising costs to shine a bright spotlight on the deep and profound impact the affordability crisis is having on workers and their families.

More than 7,500 AFT members and workers completed our survey and shared their own personal stories on how they are coping with an economy that is squeezing them from every direction. Here’s what survey respondents said:

• Seventy-four percent report living month to month, paycheck to paycheck, and 35 percent report being unable to afford to cover all of their monthly bills.

• Sixty percent said they are concerned about costs rising faster than wage growth.

• Eight in 10 identified housing costs as a challenge.

• Nine in 10 said they cannot save enough for retirement.

• Rising energy costs ranked at the top of respondents’ list of the largest drivers of financial distress, behind only anxiety about wages keeping up with the rising cost of living and rising grocery prices.

We also heard from a staggering number of people turning to debt to keep the lights on, pay for medical procedures and try to stay afloat:

• Nearly 1 in 3 reported using a credit card to pay their utility bills.

• Forty-nine percent reported paying for medical or dental care with a credit card over the past 12 months.

• Sixteen percent reported taking on buy now, pay later loans, 25 percent borrowed money from family or friends, and more than half paid only the minimum monthly payment on credit cards.

• One in 5 people reported using a credit card to make a payment on another debt.

More than half the people we heard from reported being worse off financially since President Trump returned to office. Trump promised to bring economic relief for working people. Instead, his failed economic policies are driving working people into debt and despair. Respondents reported a wide range of physical consequences stemming from debt distress, including delayed medical treatment, taking on second and third jobs, and loss of sleep.

Here’s some of what we heard from people in their own words:

“I am doing everything I can to stay afloat, but I am struggling to afford basic necessities like food, rent, gas, and the costs of continuing my education. I recently had to file for bankruptcy, which was an extremely difficult and humbling experience. I often find myself needing to borrow money from my mother just to cover essentials, and that adds stress not only to me but to my family as well.”
-Karla, a civil service employee from New York

“The constant struggle and pressure of not having enough money to pay the household bills and buying food are affecting me physically, mentally and emotionally. I am losing hope that I will be able to retire and survive this financial instability.”
-Jodi, a nurse from Oregon

“I have been teaching since 2007 but with debt from my child’s (special needs) medical [debt] & high energy costs we had to be late on energy bills then we got really behind and power was disconnected before Christmas.”
-Matthew, a teacher from Texas

These survey results and the stories from working people should be a jolt to every policymaker to spring into action and address these issues with urgency. And I want to thank U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, our partners at Protect Borrowers and the Debt Collection Lab, and the AFT members who joined us this week to release these results and announce what we’re doing in response.

We must keep fighting for Congress and the president to take concrete steps to address affordability, like what the Democrats tried to do to keep the Obamacare tax credits in place. And we need a working-class tax cut paid for by a fairer tax code, which we are pressing Congress to introduce.

In the meantime, the AFT is taking action. First, we’re organizing and fighting for collective bargaining contracts that lift wages and address so many other kitchen table issues. And second, just as we did with student debt—where our efforts helped more than 1 million people become debt free—we’ve launched a new Fight for Affordability campaign to help AFT members navigate the debt and cost-of-living issues that stand in the way of them securing a better life. America’s affordability crisis should not result in a debt sentence for families just trying to get by.

The campaign includes a suite of new consumer empowerment tools and expanded debt and financial literacy clinic offerings, starting with a focus on medical debt, to help workers navigate rising costs and predatory financial practices.

On our Fight for Affordability website, people can register for a debt clinic, view short informational videos on topics like how to navigate your credit report or appeal a medical bill, and use an AFT Debt Navigator tool created with the Debt Collection Lab that guides users to the resources that are most relevant to them. You can learn more from me about the campaign in this video:

If you’re an AFT member who needs relief, check out our resources, sign up for a debt clinic, add your story to our survey, and know the AFT is fighting every way we can to ensure that working people have an opportunity to thrive, not just survive.