More than half of Americans are worried about job security and only a portion are financially prepared for the potential economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.
North Texas companies began layoffs and unpaid furloughs to combat the effects coronavirus as early as last week. Many retail stores have closed, and restaurants have been limited to drive-thru or pick-up orders, leaving many customer service and hospitality workers with no income during the shutdowns.
However, a few companies such as Amazon, Pizza Hut and 7-Eleven are hiring thousands of positions.
Some industries, such as residential construction, continue to press on with work, but expect lower demand in the coming days and weeks.
Nationwide, 57 percent of survey respondents said they were worried about their job security because of the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a recent survey from LendEDU.
Two-thirds of the same respondents said they were living paycheck to paycheck before the economy’s downturn.
About 37 percent of respondents for a separate GOBankingRates survey said high housing and utility costs were the largest reason they were living paycheck to paycheck.
Two-thirds of respondents in that same GOBankingRates survey said they had less than $500 in their savings account.
On average, respondents to the LendEDU survey said they spent nearly $336 on supplies and food in order to social distance or remain in their homes.
About 57 percent of LendEDU respondents with a mortgage reported being concerned they would miss a mortgage payment.
When compared to homeowners in cities across the country, Dallas mortgage holders are in the top quarter of most over-leveraged, according to a newly released Wallethub survey. On an 100-point scale where one is the least over-leveraged, Dallas received 33.42 points because of high mortgage debt-to-income ratios.
Fort Worth, Denton and Irving homeowners fared better than their Dallas counterparts in the study, but Arlington, Frisco and Plano were among the least over-leveraged in the country.
LendEDU also found that more than 60 percent of respondents with outstanding student loan debt were worried about missing loan payments; and 54 percent of credit card holders worried about not being able to pay their minimum bill.
