Like you needed a study to tell you this: The recent economic turmoil has wreaked havoc on companies and on families across the country. Now, a study of 300 married, working couples conducted by Florida State University's College of Business researchers, is revealing just how deeply the crunch is being felt.
In "The Hits Just Keep Coming: How the Recession is Affecting Families and Work," the investigators sought to find out how the financial crisis is affecting people both at work and in their personal lives. The results show that in the workplace, large numbers of people are feeling more stress, more pressure from management and more concern about their job security, and are witnessing more incivility. On the home front, more than 70 percent of both men and women admitted making significant spending changes, including a decision to limit or eliminate the purchase of items deemed non-essential. More than 80 percent of both men and women also admitted that it was unlikely they would be able to retire when they wanted and with the amount of money anticipated as recently as one year ago.
In the face of record unemployment and layoffs, the study found that many people (42 percent) could maintain their current standard of living for just one month or less, while the majority of those asked (55 percent) reported three months or less. In addition, more than 33 percent of couples reported discrepancies of greater than six months in perceived standard of living following layoffs, suggesting that husbands and wives are not always on the same page in terms of financial status or long-term economic viability in the event of job loss.