Stacy Eichel, an empty nester in Florida, spent years balancing two jobs.
asserted
Eichel → spend → jobs
One was in healthcare; the other was her own venture: a small business making custom-branded merchandise for corporate clients, such as coffee mugs and T-shirts that companies hand out at conferences and holiday parties.
asserted
companies → make → conferences
It was a side hustle for a woman who couldn’t sit still, who was always hungry for the next opportunity.
asserted
who → sit → opportunity
It was the kind of business that thrived when companies had a little extra to spend on small branded trinkets to make an otherwise mundane corporate conference something memorable.
asserted
conference → thrive → trinkets
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In September 2025, Eichel lost her job in marketing for a healthcare company after a merger.
asserted
Eichel → look → merger
Suddenly, the business she had run on the side had to shoulder more of the burden of supporting her.
asserted
she → run → her
Yet just as she needed it to provide more, the market for her products was shrinking.
asserted
market → need → products
Faced with uncertainty over trade policy and tariffs, alongside the growing use of artificial intelligence across the economy, companies have been tightening their spending.
asserted
companies → face → spending
Custom-branded merchandise was becoming one more expense they could do without.
uncertain
they → brand → ?
“The economy is such that fewer people are buying custom-branded swag because it’s more of a luxury item.
asserted
it → buy → item
When they have extra money in the budget, that’s what they’ll use it for, but now their budgets are very tight,” Eichel, who has cut back on her expenses, told Al Jazeera.
asserted
who → have → Jazeera
Eichel’s experience reflects a broader strain in the US labour market, where a paycheque does not necessarily translate into financial security.
asserted
paycheque → reflect → security
The headline unemployment rate captures people actively looking for work, but it does not tell the whole story of people who are working fewer hours than they want or juggling jobs that do not provide enough income.
asserted
that → capture → income
The Department of Labor documents this through what is called the U-6 rate, a broader measure of unemployment and underemployment.
asserted
what → document → unemployment
It stands at an elevated 7.6 percent.
asserted
It → stand → percent
While that’s down from 8.1 percent a year ago, having a job does not necessarily mean Americans are getting ahead financially.
asserted
Americans → ’ → job
The U-6 measure includes people who are working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs, as well as those who want to work but have stopped looking for a job recently.
asserted
who → include → job
Even people who are employed full-time are finding that their earnings do not stretch as far as they once did.
asserted
they → employ → ?
An estimated 4.5 million Americans were working part-time because they could not find full-time work.
uncertain
they → estimate → work
Meanwhile, nine million Americans held multiple jobs, accounting for 5.5 percent of all employed workers, according to the most recent jobs report.
uncertain
Americans → hold → report
“Underemployment is one of the most misunderstood economic problems in America because it doesn’t always look like unemployment.
asserted
it → look → unemployment
It looks like a college graduate working retail despite having a degree, a former executive accepting a position paying half their previous salary, or a parent working two jobs because neither provides enough hours, benefits or income to support their family,” Tara Furiani, a workforce strategist based in Richmond, Virginia, told Al Jazeera.
asserted
Furiani → look → Jazeera
Average hourly wages rose 3 percent over the past year, while consumer prices increased 3.7 percent, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the US Labor Department.
uncertain
prices → rise → Department
That means prices have risen faster than wages, leaving many workers with less purchasing power.
asserted
prices → mean → power
Overall, prices rose 0.6 percent from the previous month, while average hourly wages increased by just 0.1 percent, adding to the financial pressure on households like Eichel’s.
asserted
wages → rise → Eichel
Eichel has cut back on expenses and scaled down some of her usual spending, including dining out and takeout, and dropped her cable service.
“I never used to think before ordering in, and now we cook everything,” Eichel said.
asserted
Eichel → cut → everything
With the midterm elections approaching, the cost of living is becoming a greater concern for voters.
asserted
cost → approach → voters
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that the cost of living was the most important issue for voters, leading the next-closest issue by a double-digit margin, at 47 percent compared with 22 percent for “democratic norms and values”.
asserted
cost → find → norms
A separate Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll found that voters trust Democrats over Republicans to handle the economy, 40 percent to 33 percent, marking the first time in 12 years that Democrats have held an advantage on the issue.
asserted
Democrats → find → issue
This comes as 44 percent of Americans said they had struggled to pay for at least one basic necessity over the past year, including transportation, rent or mortgage payments, medical care and food, according to a Pew Research Center poll released earlier this month.
uncertain
they → come → poll
Twenty percent of respondents said they had received food from a food bank or pantry over the past year.
asserted
they → say → year
Joshua Teicher, a New York City-based video producer in the advertising industry, said work began drying up after the COVID-19 pandemic, with opportunities dwindling further in recent years as companies tightened their budgets.
asserted
companies → base → budgets
Even the slow trickle of work has nearly dried up entirely.
asserted
trickle → dry → work
Teicher told Al Jazeera that his financial circumstances have changed so significantly that he is now on Medicaid, government-subsidised healthcare for people in lower-income brackets.
asserted
he → tell → brackets
He said he is struggling to afford prescriptions and food.
asserted
he → say → prescriptions
“I’m having to go into my savings.
asserted
I → have → savings
Specifically, sometimes I don’t want to get a second cup of coffee because it’s like five bucks for an espresso or something like that.
asserted
it → want → that
It’s also been harder to eat healthy.
asserted
It → eat → ?
I find myself walking a couple of extra blocks to a cheaper store because they have cheaper apples, those sorts of things,” Teicher said.
asserted
Teicher → find → things
He told Al Jazeera that his tight budget also prevents him from affording the knee surgery he needs.
asserted
he → tell → surgery
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
