Gig workers represent 31 percent of U.S. households, and while mostsay they gig by choice—70 percent for singles and even more formarried or partnered—gigging is most common among the young andsingle. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Americans may be saving more, but gig workers are having a tougher time of it.Not surprisingly, their financial situations are not only morecomplex but are causing them more anxiety, and they could reallyuse some advice.

That's among the findings of a new Hearts & Wallets report on U.S. household finance, which also uncoversa number of financial challenges facing workers even as they put away more money insavings.

For instance, says the “Income & Net Worth: Ideas to DriveConsumer-Centric Innovation by Helping with Personal HeadwindsReport,” city dwellers are having a tough time with housingexpenses. More than half their monthly budget goes toward the roofover their heads in such cities as Philadelphia, Phoenix andChicago.

And older workers hare having a tough time just hanging ontoemployment, with those aged 53–64 nearly twice as likely (11percent, compared with 6 percent) to say they're unemployed thanthose aged 40–52.

In fact, they're struggling, with 23 percent admitting to havingsaved nothing or having raided their savings. According to thereport, a quarter say “age discrimination prevents me (or mypartner) from working as much as I/we would like.”

The news isn't all bad, of course, with more than a quarter ofconsumers nationally reporting that they're saving 10 percent ormore of income; that's up 10 percentage points since 2012.

And the rate of saving nothing or digging into savings is down14 percentage points.

In addition, taxable brokerage accounts are on the rise; 40percent of households have them, which is an increase of 11percentage points since 2012.

Younger consumers are still more likely to haveemployer-sponsored retirement plans than a taxable brokerageaccount, even though the latter “can complement bank accounts inbuilding emergency funds…”

But gig workers could really use a helping hand, in the form offinancial advice—especially younger gig workers, 19 percent of whomsay they have a tough time with financial tasks like pickinginvestments and 22 percent of whom have a tough time withretirement planning.

Lower percentages of non-gig workers report struggling with bothissues, at 15 percent for choosing investments and 15 percent forretirement planning.

Gig workers represent 31 percent of U.S. households, and whilemost say they engage in gig work by choice—70 percent for singlesand even more for married or partnered—gigging is most common amongthe young and single.

Gig workers aged 21–39 are more anxious about their financialfuture, yet have a higher risk tolerance and have more investingexperience than workers not in gig-work situations.

READ MORE:

6 economic predictions for the next 5years

Why America ended up with a two-trackeconomy

Economists: We overhyped the gigeconomy