Serious social issues Economic indicators

The United Way movement seeks to strengthen communities by identifying and tackling the underlying causes of the most serious social issues facing the nation. Increasingly, economic and financial pressures facing hard-working people are seriously affecting other social issues.

Key economic indictors show:

Almost 20 million working Americans (more than 12 percent of the U.S. population) have incomes below the federal poverty level despite the fact that many are employed, some with two or three jobs.

Credit-card debt in America has tripled since 1989, with a third of American families paying for basic living expenses, including rent, mortgage payments, groceries, utilities and insurance, with credit cards.

The personal savings rate (as a percentage of disposable income) was one percent in 2006, the lowest since the 1930s.

Half of the twomillion bankuptcies in 2005 were caused by medical debt.