A new report shows over half of Kentuckians are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and would fall below the federal poverty line if they lost their job.
The numbers come from the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a non-profit based in Washington D.C. that has releaseda scorecard focusing on the financial well-being of households in each state.
The numbers for Kentucky aren't good.
Fifty-two percent of Kentuckians wouldn’t have enough money to get by at the federal poverty level if they lost their job. The report says that means more than half of households in the commonwealth “are one crisis away" from financial devastation.
Sixty-percent of Kentucky residents have sub-prime credit, which is defined as a credit score below 570.
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Director Jason Bailey says the report is proof that the commonwealth has steeper economic challengers compared to many other states, because of Kentucky’s traditional reliance on low-wage jobs.
