Women struggle, juggle finances

[Omaha Steve]

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Women struggle, juggle finances

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

By HEATHER HADDON
HERALD NEWS

When Mona Salerno, 42, isn't managing the Pathmark in Little Falls, she's juggling the soccer games and PTA meetings that come along with her three children. There are mortgage bills for her Wayne home, rising gas costs, health-care expenses, and the $500 she tries to set aside monthly for her children's college educations.

That leaves little money -- or time -- for herself.

"It's pretty demanding," said Salerno, while standing outside work on Monday. "We basically live for our children."

A nationwide survey released on Monday found that working women struggle to meet basic financial needs, juggle multiple jobs and pay for health care -- and they are fed up that lawmakers haven't done something about it.

More than 22,000 women responded to the online survey conducted by the AFL-CIO union. The online survey was publicized through various work and women's organizations, as well as on the AFL-CIO Web site, from June to August. Respondents were from across the age spectrum, and two-thirds were not members of a union, according to the AFL-CIO.

While it is not a scientific survey, the findings are similar to previous phone polls conducted by Lake Snell Perry and Associates, a polling group, on behalf of the AFL-CIO.

The answers are strikingly similar -- and pessimistic -- across age, race and education levels. Nearly all respondents said they are worried about their health-care costs, followed by the cost of living and retirement benefits. Almost 90 percent think the situation will be tougher for future generations of young women. And roughly a third of women work evenings and weekends, or are their household's sole breadwinners.

"There's a sense of being in a cage around work and family issues," said Karen Nussbaum of Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.