Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023 [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023 [pdf]

federalreserve.gov

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When asked how they are doing, 72% of Americans report they are "at least doing okay financially."

When asked how the nation's economy is doing, 58% rate national economic conditions as "poor."[a]

Many observers call this a "vibecession."[b]

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[a] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/business/economy/inflatio...

[b] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibecession#In_the_United_Stat...

Americans also suffer from chronic positivity and many think they are Middle class even as they suffer conditions of financial instability.

Savings rates are going down. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT

Yes. I agree on both counts.

But neither fact explains the disconnect between perceptions of personal economic situation vs. national economic situation.

"Vibecession" is the conventional name for the disconnect. I'm making no value judgments on the state of the economy!

I think we are really more on the same page than not on the actual conditions of the economy, but I would add that to me "Vibecession" carries an undercurrent that is is used to make fun of and to quiet the people thinking the economy is bad. Often accompanied by citation of overall positive economic metrics which has disconnects from individual economic security. I think the core problem that media calling it a vibecession is basically acting intentionally blind to the effects of inequality.

Got it. I've never gotten the sense "vibecession" is used to "make fun" or "quiet" anyone. To me it's just a clever word that has caught on. AFAICT :-)

TL;DR:

1) In 2023, 72% of Americans reported that they were “at least doing okay financially”, a marginal decrease from 73% in 2022, but notably below the recent peak of 78% in 2021.

2) Monthly incomes in 2023 saw an uptick for 34% of respondents compared to 2022, a trend that has continued to increase over the last four consecutive years.

3) Among retired individuals who constitute more than a quarter of the U.S. population, 80% said they were doing at least okay financially, surpassing the national average.

Some sections of interest for HN:

"Working from Home" has the following statistics on the proportions of employees working full-time from home:

  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023
  7%          22%   19%   16%

It is also stated that 40% of employees worked at least part of the time at home in 2023, unchanged from 2022 and 2021 statistics.

Table 21. Cryptocurrency use has the following statistics on the proportions of adults using cryptocurrency at any time during the year:

  2021  2022  2023

  12%   10%   7%

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