McKinsey survey paints a picture of a dark mood among Americans

A survey of 25,000 Americans reveals a pessimistic mood among many as the pandemic recedes—they feel their financial situation has deteriorated, and they see serious challenges for the future.

The survey was conducted by McKinsey and Company, along with polling firm Ipsos, in the spring of this year. The management consulting giant called the results, “sobering.” The report said that many Americans feel there is inequal access to opportunity and are not sure the situation will improve.

“Americans report that their financial situations have deteriorated over the past year, and at the time of our survey only half of all respondents reported being able to cover their living expenses for more than two months in the event of job loss,” the researchers wrote. “Our survey results also indicated that the pandemic has harmed the economic well-being of many groups, exacerbating inequalities that existed before the crisis.”

Standing on the brink

The survey found that one-third of respondents (34%) said they had lost a job or income over the past year. Only half of respondents said they would be able to cover their living expenses for more than two months if they or someone in their family were to lose their job. Respondents listed both financial and housing instability as a top issue; 18% said they were worried they would lose their housing.

Debt is also a concern: 75% of respondents said they had some form of debt, and 41% of those with debt said their debt level causes them stress.

As other studies have found, people of color and women are the hardest hit by economic downturns, perhaps because they tend to work in industries that saw the most job losses during the pandemic. “The economic insecurity that our respondents described has stark implications, according to our research,” the report said. “Thirty-one percent of respondents said that they have had to cut back spending on food or delay medical care over the past 12 months for financial reasons. That number rises to 43% for those making less than $25,000. Hispanic/Latino and Black respondents were 50% and 22%, respectively, more likely than white respondents to say that they have had to cut back.”

Problems with access to care, opportunity persist

The American health care system continues to cause problems for many workers in this country: 22% of respondents saying that a top challenge was health care access, while an additional 21% cited the affordability of health insurance. A further 10% said both health care and health insurance were among top barriers; meaning that one-third of respondents said health care, health insurance, or both were among the top three barriers to their well-being.

Access to childcare was also an issue, especially for women. “In our survey, the need to take care of family was the third-most-commonly cited barrier to searching for a job, picked by 18% of women and 16 percent of men,” the report said. “Among those who have stopped looking for work, however, the issue was twice as likely to have been cited as a reason by women than by men. And Hispanic/Latina women cited the need to take care of family twice as often as did white women.”

At a time when employers are reporting shortages of workers, this finding seems to confirm that issues such as caregiving are playing a role in the ability of Americans to get back to pre-pandemic levels of employment.

Other disparities were found to be related to geographic factors. Rural Americans face unique challenges, the report said. “Rural respondents were less willing than urban ones to say that they would move for work (22% versus 38%), switch industries (44% versus 52%), or change occupations (47% versus 52%),” the study said. “Moreover, rural workers expressed less confidence than urban workers that they would be able to change careers or occupations.” This lack of mobility among workers has been linked to economic stagnation, researchers have said.

Some silver linings were found: for example, immigrants and people of color tended to be more optimistic about the future than other Americans. The researchers said the number of Americans willing to get education or training that could help them find work was also encouraging.

“People want a path forward; it’s a job of leaders to help chart the course,” the study said.