'Full-time work doesn't pay': Why are so many working American families living day to day?
Rosalba Hernandez and her husband both work full time at a restaurant, but with five kids, soaring inflation rates and a San Diego apartment that keeps jacking up rent, the family is living day to day.
Things have gotten especially tight after the onset of the pandemic. An immigration raid in 2019 caused Hernandez to lose a second job at a Korean grocery store. And when the restaurant she previously worked at closed after the state entered lockdowns, the family fell $6,000 behind on rent and continue to carry the debt.
Hernandez and her husband have had to be creative to make do. With housing costs up, the couple is renting one room in their two-bedroom apartment to a family member for $800 a month. Day care expenses are out of the question, so Hernandez and her husband work opposite shifts to care for their 1-year-old. Whatever tips Hernandez makes go toward food.
" (It's) stressful because we’re worried about hours being cut or being sent home early,” Hernandez told USA TODAY through a translator. "Every little bit is helping."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/full-time-work-doesn-t-pay-why-are-so-many-working-american-families-living-day-to-day/ar-AA11vNlE
