- Mark Dolliver

While "unemployment" gets the headlines, a Gallup daily tracking poll finds the broader category of "underemployment" is holding down daily spending by one-fifth of the adult workforce.

Gallup polling throughout the month of January identified 20 percent of respondents as underemployed -- i.e., unemployed or working just part time when what they want is a full-time job. It also found that average daily spending by the underemployed was 36 percent lower than that of respondents classified as "employed" -- $48 vs. $75. (Respondents were classified as "employed" if working full time or working part time but not wishing to work full time.)

Employed respondents were twice as likely as their underemployed counterparts (60 percent vs. 29 percent) to say they "feel good about the amount of money they have to spend." The disparity was even sharper (58 percent vs. 25 percent) when it comes to being "able to make a major purchase if needed." These was less of a gap, proportionally, in the numbers saying they "have money to buy the things they need" (84 percent vs. 56 percent).

The figures were alarming enough for employed respondents -- though much more so for the underemployed -- when the poll asked about the ability to afford some specific necessities. Thirteen percent of employed and 36 percent of underemployed respondents said there have been times in the past 12 months when they didn't have enough money to buy food; 6 percent of the employed and 19 percent of the underemployed said the same about having enough money to pay for shelter.

Healthcare and medicines were other areas where many respondents (14 percent of the employed, 37 percent of the underemployed) said they didn't have enough money for what they needed.