Stacy Eichel, an empty nester in Florida, spent years balancing a healthcare marketing job with a side business making custom-branded merchandise for corporate clients. When she lost her job in September 2025 after a merger, the business had to carry more of the load, just as corporate budgets were tightening. "The economy is such that fewer people are buying custom-branded swag because it's more of a luxury item. When they have extra money in the budget, that's what they'll use it for, but now their budgets are very tight," Eichel told Al Jazeera. She has cut back on dining out and takeout and dropped her cable service.
Her experience reflects a broader strain in the US labour market. The Department of Labor's U-6 rate, a broader measure of unemployment and underemployment that includes part-time workers who want full-time jobs and people who have recently stopped looking, stands at 7.6 percent, down from 8.1 percent a year ago. An estimated 4.5 million Americans were working part-time because they could not find full-time work, and nine million people, 5.5 percent of all employed workers, held multiple jobs.
Pay is not keeping up with prices. Average hourly wages rose 3 percent over the past year while consumer prices rose 3.7 percent, according to the latest Consumer Price Index. In the most recent month, prices rose 0.6 percent while hourly wages rose just 0.1 percent.
"Underemployment is one of the most misunderstood economic problems in America because it doesn't always look like unemployment," said Tara Furiani, a workforce strategist based in Richmond, Virginia. "It looks like a college graduate working retail despite having a degree, a former executive accepting a position paying half their previous salary, or a parent working two jobs because neither provides enough hours, benefits or income to support their family."
Joshua Teicher, a New York City video producer in the advertising industry, said work began drying up after the pandemic and has now nearly dried up entirely. He is on Medicaid and struggles to afford prescriptions and food. "I find myself walking a couple of extra blocks to a cheaper store because they have cheaper apples," he said. His tight budget has also prevented him from affording knee surgery on his left knee, leaving one leg slightly longer than the other.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline was $4.29 on Monday, up from $2.98 when the US and Israel first struck Iran in late February, according to the American Automobile Association. Economists describe a "low-hire, low-fire" labour market, with employers pulling back on hiring even as layoffs stay low. "I have seen highly qualified people who have not been able to find a job for 12-18 months," said Babak Hafezi, a professor of international business at American University. Some workers have responded by adding part-time jobs on top of full-time work.
With the midterm elections approaching, cost of living leads voter concerns. A Reuters/Ipsos poll put it at 47 percent, well ahead of "democratic norms and values" at 22 percent. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found voters trust Democrats over Republicans to handle the economy, 40 percent to 33 percent, the first Democratic advantage on the issue in 12 years. A Pew Research Center poll found 44 percent of Americans struggled to pay for at least one basic necessity over the past year, and 20 percent had received food from a food bank or pantry.