Thirty-seven percent of workers live payday to payday

- One-Third Donít Set Money Aside for Savings -

Counting down the minutes to payday? Youíre not alone. Thirty-seven per cent of workers say they often or always live paycheck to paycheck, according to CareerBuilder.co.ukís latest survey. Close to half (48 per cent) say they would need to earn an extra 500 on top of their regular paycheck to live comfortably and one-third (33 per cent) state they donít set aside any money for savings each month. The survey of 421 workers was completed in December 2006.

Thirty-three per cent of workers report that they have one income for their households while 11 per cent say they have more than one job just to make ends meet. Although, 56 per cent of workers have a set budget each month, 39 per cent say they typically spend over their allotted amount.

When asked what puts them over budget most often, the most popular response was going out for drinks/entertainment, others included:

- Restaurants/Take-aways
- Cost of running a car
- Clothing
- Technology and electronic gadgets
- Travel
- Dcor for the home

Comparing genders, women are more likely to report concerns over the financial health of the household. Forty-six per cent of women say they often or always live paycheck to paycheck compared to 29 per cent of men. Four-in-ten women say they donít have enough income to live comfortably compared to 38 per cent of men. When it comes to savings, women and men are aligned with one-third reporting that they do not put any of their paychecks into saving.

ìScrambling to make ends meet is an exercise all too familiar in many homes,î said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.co.uk.

ìClose to 40 per cent of workers report they donít have enough income to live comfortably. And while a bigger paycheck may help, planning ahead and maximising benefits offered by employers can also play a major role in stretching your money.î

Methodology
This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 421 workers (employed full-time; not self employed) and 224 hiring managers (employed full-time; not self employed; with at least some involvement in hiring decisions), ages 18 and over within the United Kingdom between November 17 and December 11, 2006. Figures for age, sex, education, location (region) and internet usage were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondentsí propensity to be online.

With a pure probability sample of 421 or 224 one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of /- 5 and /- 7 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from subsamples is higher and varies. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.