Economic growth stalled in recent weeks in some parts of the US, the Federal Reserve said.
“Four districts explicitly noted that the pace of growth had slowed since the prior period,” the central bank said in its Beige Book report Wednesday.
This most recent report is based on accounts collected by the Fed’s 12 regional banks through May 23 and collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
Fed officials raised interest rates by a half-point in May. They signaled they are likely to make comparable increases in June and July as they work to tame the hottest inflation in decades.
According to a survey by industry publication Pymnts.com and LendingClub Corp, more than a third of Americans earning at least $250,000/year say they live paycheck to paycheck. This news spotlights how inflation takes a bigger bite out of Americans’ budgets at all ends of the pay spectrum.
Some 36% of households taking in nearly four times the median US salary devote almost all their income to household expenses.
According to US Census Bureau data, the $250,000-plus income bracket roughly represents the top 5% of earners in the country.
Among all consumers surveyed, 61.3% reported living paycheck-to-paycheck in April, a nine percentage-point increase from a year earlier, LendingClub said.
The LendingClub survey was conducted from April 6-13, based on about 4,000 US consumers.
