Each year, employers in the U.S. pour trillions of dollars into employee wages and benefits, some offering more than 50 benefits to attract and retain talent. Yet despite these options, the vast majority of workers are still struggling financially – compromising their job performance, satisfaction, and intent to stay with their employers.

The new report uses nationally representative survey data to examine the connection between wages, benefits, and household financial health. The findings offer a new, first-of-its-kind framework to guide employers, benefit providers, and policymakers in designing strategies that support worker well-being and business success.

To gather worker experiences about employment status, wages, benefits, and financial realities, the Financial Health Network surveyed a nationally representative sample of workers (defined as U.S. adults aged 18 and older working full- or part-time), drawn from a probability-based online panel (the SSRS Opinion Panel). Data was collected from January 27 to February 24, 2025, in both English (n=7,899) and Spanish (n=200). The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is ± 1.6 percentage points.