More than half of workers, or 55%, lacked enough savings to cover a $500 emergency expense in a June survey of 1,028 workers by SecureSave, a provider of workplace emergency savings accounts. Another 41% said they had skipped necessities such as medical care, food or car repairs because they lacked sufficient savings. Persistent inflation, weaker purchasing power and rising household costs are putting pressure on workers even when they have jobs and regular paychecks. Research from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and ADP researchers found that real wages fell between December 2020 and 2024 for nearly 40% of workers. Households are increasingly using credit to bridge the gap: auto-loan balances reached $1.71 trillion in the second quarter, credit-card balances rose to $1.26 trillion, and new delinquencies were elevated. About 60% of cardholders carry revolving debt, while a separate survey found that 55% carry credit-card balances to cover essential expenses. Grocery costs are also testing household finances, with more than one-quarter of working-age adults who used credit cards for groceries unable to pay their balance in full or missing the minimum payment, and about 20% drawing on long-term savings to buy food. Retirement-plan hardship withdrawals rose to 6% of Vanguard defined-contribution participants in 2025 from 2% in 2020. Congress's Secure 2.0 law allows up to $1,000 in annual emergency withdrawals from defined-contribution plans and permits pension-linked emergency savings accounts, or PLESAs, although only 4% of 401(k) plans allow the emergency withdrawal. A bipartisan bill would raise the annual PLESA contribution limit to $5,000 and expand eligibility.