American Workers Becoming More Stressed About Their Debt and Personal Finances, According to Bank of America Survey

A new survey from banking giant Bank of America (BofA) finds that American workers are increasingly stressed about their debt and personal finances.

According to a new article by Reuters, the BofA survey, which polled 1,000 full-time workers in May, finds that just 47 of American workers said they have a sense of financial well-being, down from 52 at the start of the year, while about 85 of respondents said they had some personal debt.

The BofA poll goes on to note that 26 of the workforce is seeking help with paying down their debts, bolstering their emergency savings, or with maintaining their overall financial well-being – double the percentage it was two years ago.

The survey also finds that while the overwhelming majority of respondents – 70 – were optimistic about their finances over the next three years, their confidence falters after that. The survey concludes by finding that a staggering 77 of respondents were worried about the US economy.

Earlier this week, Mark Zandi, the CEO of the credit ratings firm Moody’s, said that the US economy is likely to continue struggling in the coming months due to rising inflation and President Donald Trump’s new immigration policies.

“The Fed’s been cautious sitting on its hands because it just doesn’t know what to do with the tariffs. And we haven’t really seen the real economic consequences of the tariffs yet, but it’s [on the] train. It’s coming. You can see it in the data. Inflation is picking up, and it is on the high side of what I think people would feel is comfortable…

It’s not just tariffs. It’s the immigration policy, which the brunt of that is being borne by the labor market. And it’s not at all unlikely that we’re going to start seeing some job loss simply because there’s no labor force out there.”