A new study has found that 50.8 million American families do not earn enough to meet their basic expenses, including food, rent, transportation and healthcare.
According to the result of the study released by United Way ALICE Project, these families comprise 43 percent of the 119 million households in the United States.
The study pooled data from the 16.1 million families living in poverty and another 34.7 described as Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE).
The states with the highest number of struggling families, according to the study, include California, Hawaii and New Mexico.
Although ALICE families are not unemployed, they hardly have any leftover in savings day-in, day-out.
The situation is believed to have been compounded by the fact that 66 percent of American jobs pay less than $20 per hour.
The study which was published on Wednesday further exposed the imbalance in the pay structure of American CEOs and the average American worker.
John Franklin, CEO of United Way of Northern New Jersey, said, “For too long, the magnitude of financial instability in this country has been understated and obscured by misleading averages and outdated poverty calculations.
“It is morally unacceptable and economically unsustainable for our country to have so many hardworking families living paycheck to paycheck. We are all paying a price when ALICE families can’t pay the bills.”