{"id":19783,"date":"2007-02-01T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2007-02-01T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/hey-big-spenders\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:45:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:45:20","slug":"hey-big-spenders","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2007\/02\/01\/hey-big-spenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey, Big Spenders!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, average Americans not only spent everything that they earned, but dipped into savings or borrowed money to pay for their purchases \u2014 at a negative 1.0%, the savings rate for 2006 was the lowest it has been since 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, according to a newCommerce Department report. Back then, of course, unemployment was sky-high, with one-in-four workers unable to find a job. In 2006, in contrast, the unemployment rate averaged a modest 4.6%. Still, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, more than three-quarters (77%) of all Americans describe themselves as the kind of person who \u201calways looks for ways to save money.\u201d This paradox is not as stark as it may seem, for nearly two-thirds (63%) of Americans also acknowledge they don\u2019t save enough, and more than a third say that they often (11%) or sometimes (25%) spend more than they can afford. Asked what they splurge on, people most frequently cite food and restaurant dining, followed by entertainment and recreation, then shopping and personal items.Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s the (negative) percentage of their after-tax income that Americans saved last year — the lowest savings rate since 1933 when, in the depths of the Great Depression, one in four workers were jobless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[],"bylines":[791],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-19783","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-pew-research-center-staff","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short 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