[Market Watch] Missing more than one paycheck is a one-way ticket to financial hardship for nearly half of the country’s workforce.

No doubt at least a quarter of that group are in the upper middle class, income-wise, choosing to live at the edge of their means. It used to be called keeping up with the Joneses.

A new study from NORC at the University of Chicago, an independent social research institution, found that 51% of working adults in the United States would need to access savings to cover necessities if they missed more than one paycheck.

Does this mean over half actually have savings accounts? And isn’t that what savings accounts are for?

Certain communities were more prone to economic hardship in the event of missing a paycheck. Roughly two-thirds of households earning less than $30,000 annually

...the working poor, who nowadays get food stamps and other forms of aid for exactly that reason...

and Hispanic households

...is that code for illegal immigrants? Why else pick them out, but not African-Americans?

would be unable to cover basic living expenses after missing more than one paycheck, the researchers found.

The findings were based on a survey of more than 1,000 adults. The researchers interviewed a nationally representative panel designed to be indicative of the U.S. population.

The survey provides a sobering look at Americans’ precarious finances even as the economy is improving, jobs are more plentiful and the stock market has ‐ despite this week’s volatility ‐ generally continued its upward trajectory this year.

The usual situation during recovery after a crash. This time it was made longer and deeper by vast ladlefuls of excessive regulations poured on by the Obama administration, including Obamacare.

Though wage growth has accelerated recently, those gains have been concentrated among the wealthiest Americans most.

But the vast number of newly employed has been concentrated among the formerly non-working poor, giving them the first step up the skills-and-salary ladder.