Dive Brief:
- Three in five U.S. workers reported living paycheck to paycheck, according to PNC Bank’s second annual Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report. And 31% of the more than 1,000 workers surveyed said they would like early access to their paycheck.
- Meanwhile, 78% of the more than 500 U.S. employers surveyed said their workers were financially stressed, up from 71% in 2023. But access to financial planning benefits doubled from the previous year, jumping from 14% to 28%.
- Three out of 10 workers of any generation and 4 out of 10 Generation Z workers with student loan debt report being “at a standstill” while they pay it off.
Dive Insight:
PNC Bank reported differences in financial goals and stress by generation.
Gen Z workers were the most stressed about personal finances, followed by millennials, Generation X and baby boomers. Likewise, the desire to remain with a company offering greater financial wellness benefits was highest among Gen Z workers, followed by millennials, Gen X and baby boomers.
For Gen Z, the top financial goal was to improve their credit score, while every other generation surveyed was focused on saving for retirement.
“The varying financial goals and priorities across America’s generationally diverse workforce shows how important it is to offer a mix of benefits that can appeal to a wide range of employee needs,” Kaley Keeley Buchanan, senior vice president and head of PNC Organizational Financial Wellness, said in a statement.
Financial security varies by other demographics as well. A gender gap remains when it comes to feelings of financial wellness, according to Bank of America’s quarterly Participant Pulse report. Men reported a financial wellness score of 53 out of 100 and women reported a score of 46 on factors like managing long-term debt and preserving assets.