Americans with less education see worsening financial well-being

The overall financial well-being of Americans continued to improve in 2016, while those with less education were worsening, according to a Federal Reserve survey.

About 70 per cent of the respondents said they were either "living comfortably" or "doing okay" in 2016, compared to 69 per cent in 2015 and 62 per cent in 2013 when the survey was first conducted, Xinhua news agency quoted the survey released on Friday.

"The improvements in well-being as reported by the survey respondents are concentrated among adults with at least some college education," it said.

Forty per cent of adults with a high school degree or less reported that they were struggling financially, compared to 17 per cent of those with at least a bachelor's degree, the survey found.

It also found that 44 per cent of adults said they either could not cover an emergency expense costing $400, or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money. However, the share was down 6 percentage points since 2013.

The survey also showed that 28 per cent of American adults have no savings for retirement.

More than 6,000 respondents were inquired for the survey.

--IANS

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