Workers Use Faster Wages to Boost Local Economies

The 60 million workers who form the human infrastructure powering the U.S. economy are increasingly scraping just to get by.

Yet this cohort, which PYMNTS Intelligence defines as earning under $25 an hour, or less than $50,000 per year, drives 15% of consumer spending, per the latest findings in the Wage to Wallet Index, a collaboration between PYMNTS Intelligence, WorkWhile and Ingo Payments.

When their wages move, the economy moves. Their economic footprint is substantial not because they are high earners, but because they represent such a large group whose consumption is both immediate and essential.

Their spending moves quickly through local economies, supporting businesses that, in turn, support others. But it is the sensitivity of this group, the thin margin between paychecks and expenses, that makes the timing and structure of wage delivery far more important than often understood.

And for those roughly 60 million workers who staff warehouses, move goods, serve meals, clean hotel rooms, assist patients, and keep retail counters running, collectively referred to in the report as the Labor Economy, the velocity of money is not an abstract economic concept.

A 1% wage change for this group translates into approximately $17 billion GDP impact. But the report found that how fast those wages move may matter almost as much as how much they earn.

A Fragile Backbone With Outsized Economic Leverage

One of the report’s most consequential insights is that timing matters as much as amount. Even minor interruptions — missed shifts, reduced hours, or a late direct deposit — can disrupt rent, groceries, debt payments and childcare almost instantly.

The typical American reports nearly $9,900 in liquid savings; the typical Labor Economy worker has closer to $5,700. Fewer than one in three could assemble $2,000 in cash within 30 days for an emergency. Consumer sentiment among this group trails broader sentiment by approximately 10 percent.

When a workforce lives this close to the edge, the traditional biweekly or semi-monthly pay cycle becomes not just inconvenient but economically inefficient.

Viewed through a macroeconomic lens, instant pay then is not merely a convenience but a form of stabilizing infrastructure. The ability to access earnings in real time helps smooth cash flow between pay cycles, reducing volatility in spending and lessening the need for households to rely on costly credit.

Read the report: Measuring the Labor Economy’s Impact on U.S. Financial and Economic Health

Over 55% of labor economy constituents choose instant pay when offered, and many are willing to pay small fees for the privilege.

On its face, this might seem counterintuitive. Why would lower-income workers opt to pay to get money they have already earned? The answer underscores the centrality of timing in their financial lives. The cost of waiting can be far higher than the nominal fee for instant pay: overdraft charges, late rent penalties, utility reconnection fees, or reliance on high-interest credit alternatives.

Employers offering instant pay are not just improving worker satisfaction; they are enhancing predictability in local economic activity. Financial resilience at the individual level becomes resilience at the macro level.

None of this suggests that instant pay is a panacea or a substitute for broader improvements in wages, job quality, or scheduling practices. But it does highlight a meaningful shift in how employers, financial institutions, and policymakers might think about labor-market health. Wage delivery, once considered an administrative detail, is increasingly a lever with measurable economic consequences.

There is also a cultural dimension to this shift. For decades, financial well-being has been framed largely in terms of budgeting, savings habits, or personal responsibility. But the Wage to Wallet Index underscores a structural reality: systems that delay access to earned money impose costs that disproportionately fall on workers with the least capacity to absorb them. Instant pay reframes wage access not as a benefit, but as a correction to a mismatch.