Joblessness has fallen and earnings are gradually rising. But a surprising number of Americans still live paycheck to paycheck, new research shows.

The problem, according to Jonathan Morduch, a New York University professor, is that many people endure dramatic swings in income, making it extremely difficult to save for hard times and compelling some to sell their home when divorce or a health crisis hits.

In a new book, Morduch argues that an increasing number of people live in perilous economic circumstances due to what he calls “the great job shift.” This refers to the increasing tendency of employers to cut back hours unexpectedly when times are slow or to compensate more workers through commissions or tipping.

In their book, “The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty,” Morduch and co-author Rachel Schneider say many people lack the means to handle even relatively minor expenses, such as an unexpected car repair bill. And a big setback, such as a cancer diagnosis or a death in the family, could compel them to sell their home.

Unless your place is located in a red-hot market where buyers outnumber sellers, marketing your home in “as is” condition can mean letting it go for a sacrificial price. That’s why it’s usually a good idea to somehow find the funds for affordable improvements.

“In a lot of markets, low-cost improvements to your property, like a fresh coat of paint or new carpet, give you a good bang for your buck. But if you’re facing a financial crisis, I’d be cautious about trying to do a big rehab to your house,” says Daren Blomquist, a senior vice president with Attom Data Solutions, which tracks real estate transactions all over the nation.

Here are a few other pointers for cash-tight sellers:

-- Seek out help to purge your home of clutter.

One of the most crucial steps in preparing a property for sale -- ridding it of excess furniture and accumulations -- is also one of the least expensive, says Vicki Norris, a former real estate agent and author of “Restoring Order to Your Home.”

“Chaos and other people’s stuff are instant turn-offs to buyers,” says Norris, who runs a professional organizing firm.

However, to execute an effective de-cluttering plan, many homeowners need a support structure to gain momentum and keep on track.

For guidance at a fair price, you can hire one of a growing number of professional organizers. You can search for one in your area through the website of a group such as the National Association of Professional Organizers (napo.net). Or you can turn to a friend or family member willing to help sift through your possessions.

-- Give priority attention to minor kitchen upgrades.

Sid Davis, a veteran real estate broker and author, says your kitchen should be the focal point of your pre-sale home improvement program, but that upgrades in this part of your property needn’t be as pricy as many imagine.

“Some of the most important projects cost around $1,000 to $2,000 each,” says Davis, author of “Home Makeovers That Sell.”

Davis urges cash-challenged home sellers to “triage” in the kitchen, focusing on the projects in greatest need. One typically involves improvements to kitchen cabinets, “which very often have accumulated years of dirt and grunge.”

“If you have wood cabinets, you can make them look a lot better through a thorough cleaning with Murphy Oil Soap, followed by a rub-down with lemon oil. If that doesn’t do the trick, sand and re-stain your cabinets or paint them in a high-gloss white. Also, be sure to add new hardware, which shouldn’t cost you more than $50,” Davis says.

Another low-cost kitchen improvement involves replacing worn flooring. Davis says the skills needed for this task are easily acquired through a class offered at a home center store or online.

“Vinyl flooring is the cheapest, but the price for a nice tile floor has come down dramatically,” he says.

-- Recognize the importance to your sale of a fresh coat of paint.

One proven strategy for adding appeal to your interior is to paint the walls and trim throughout. For advice on painting technique, consult the websites of major paint companies, or borrow a manual or video on the topic from the library.

“The only major element to a good painting job involves solid preparation -- mainly sanding and surfacing -- and attention to detail. You can do it yourself, and that’s a lot better than hiring a high school or college student,” Davis says.

-- Look for low-bid contractors for the most difficult projects.

Are you a homeowner with limited funds to pay contractors for complex or potentially hazardous pre-sale repairs? Even so, Davis urges you to resist the temptation to do this work yourself.

To make the most of your scarce resources for home improvement work, Davis recommends you seek three to four competitive bids from contractors who come highly recommended.

“In every economy, contractors need to keep their crews working,” he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

When the financial downturn hit in 2008, most millennials were still in school, with other things to think about than serious financial matters. But now in their prime home-buying years, many are reflecting on the life lessons learned during that recessionary period.

“Young people ... remember how many in their parents’ generation struggled with foreclosures, short sales and other problems involving real estate. They don’t want the same thing to happen to them,” says Sophia Bera, a 33-year-old financial planner who heads a firm focused on clients in their 20s and 30s.

“So many young homebuyers are saddled with student debt. That alone has made them resistant to overspending for a property,” says Bera, a fee-only planner affiliated with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (napfa.org).

Of course, it’s tough to restrain mortgage borrowing to the limits of personal comfort for many whose salaries are growing slowly, if at all. A recent report by Attom Data Solutions (attomdata.com), which tracks housing markets throughout the country, found that it costs in excess of 43 percent of average wages to cover house payments in more than a quarter of U.S. markets.

Even if you’re a first-time buyer lucky enough to live in an area with reasonable housing costs, you’ll still want to be cautious about taking on a larger mortgage than you can comfortably afford. To be sure you won’t overspend, financial analysts say it’s wise to carefully calculate your living expenses before committing to a purchase.

“Run the numbers and make sure you stay skinny on your overhead,” says Dale Robyn Siegel, a home loan broker and author of “The New Rules for Mortgages.”

Your core living costs are expenses you must meet on a regular basis. They include outlays for food, transportation, child care and insurance coverage. They may also include any financial commitments you’ve made to a religious institution or charity. Together, these expenses constitute what many in the financial field call your “nut.”

“Your first task is to ensure you’ll have the funds to meet your nut every month. Otherwise, your stress level and quality of life could leave you greatly impaired,” Siegel says.

Here are a few pointers for first-time buyers:

-- Carefully calculate your core expenses.

Arlen Olberding, a financial planner affiliated with the Garrett Planning Network, urges would-be homebuyers to take a step-by-step approach. As a first step, carefully review your bank statements to see where your money has gone during the past six to 12 months.

“When it comes to spending, people are creatures of habit. Because of that, looking back at your personal spending history should help you project your future spending,” Olberding says.

After categorizing your past spending, it’s time to comb through the columns, determining which among your non-mandatory costs you’d be willing to trim.

“Establishing financial priorities is a very personal matter. There are no right or wrong answers,” says Olberding, who specializes in helping middle-income clients meet their money goals.

Once you’ve calculated your living costs, along with quality-of-life choices you consider essential, it’s time to compare this monthly total to the net income you’re bringing in. The difference should be the funds available to cover your mortgage expenses, along with home upkeep and utility costs.

-- Realize that lenders could let you overshoot your budget.

After the recession, mortgage lending standards became stringent, and still remain so. Yet ironically, Siegel says many who can jump over lender approval hurdles are still able to borrow more than they reasonably should. Why? Because the full extent of their living costs isn’t apparent to the lender who reviews their file.

For example, when assessing your affordability range, a lender won’t take into account private debts— -- like the regular payments you owe your mother who advanced you the money to buy a new car.

“If an expense doesn’t show up on your credit report, the bank doesn’t know about it,” Siegel says.

-- Factor inflation into your living-cost calculations.

Although the government’s Consumer Price Index has shown little movement in recent years, inflation is still a factor for many households. Especially hard hit are families with young children who face hefty daycare costs.

Along with child-related expenses, health-care costs have also risen dramatically, led by the cost of employee contributions to health plans and the premiums paid for the kind of individual policies used by those who have no access to insurance coverage through work.

“At any age, medical care costs can sneak up on you. This is particularly likely if you’ve had an accident or a major illness and you incur big co-pays for treatment,” Olberding says.

In assessing their living costs going forward, Olberding advises clients to factor in average price increases of as much as 5 percent per year for their core expenses.

“No one is immune from inflationary increases. So, it’s always better to err on the high side when you’re preparing a spending plan,” he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

All over America, many boomer-age parents are fretting. To fund their retirement, they must sell the big family house. But downsizing is impossible if one or more grown children have moved back home.

“The phenomenon of ‘boomerang kids’ has really upset lots of older folks who can’t roll with their plans because Junior has reclaimed the room he last inhabited in high school,” says John Rygiol, a real estate broker who specializes in the sale of upper-end property.

The migration of kids back to their parents’ property isn’t new in U.S. history. But it last became obvious to demographers during the recession that began around 2008. This was expected to be a temporary response to economic pressures, according to Frank Furstenberg Jr., a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

But the trend has been anything but short-lived. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, more than 20 million young adults currently live in their parents’ home.

“People in the U.S. are marrying later, so the passage to adulthood is longer. But by age 25 to 29, there’s a huge dropoff in the number of young adults still living at home,” according to Furstenberg, whose research focuses on the changing nature of early adulthood.

Here are a few pointers for would-be home sellers with boomerang kids at home:

-- Don’t waver from your downsizing dreams.

Rygiol, who owns an independent real estate brokerage, says he’s witnessed many clients sacrificing their retirement security to maintain quarters for grown children.

“These kids are eating their parents’ lunch. Mom and dad shouldn’t have to sacrifice their retirement plans for the kids,” he says.

Of course, many young adults living in the family home are unaware of their parents’ financial situation. Nor do they grasp the full cost of owning and maintaining the family home. That’s why Rygiol suggests that an important first step toward your housing transition could involve a family meeting to outline these realities.

“Sit down at the kitchen table and explain the whole situation to your kids. Outline all your expenses for the big house and why you need to move to economize,” he says.

Once young adults realize how important it is for their parents to downsize and reduce costs, they’re more motivated to find their own housing solutions, says Rygiol, who’s affiliated with the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org).

-- Ponder the idea of a temporary rent subsidy.

Given how hard it is for many young adults to obtain a well-paying job, it can be a jarring transition if they’re jettisoned from the family home without sufficient funds to cover their own housing.

Should you help them pay to rent a place of their own? Rygiol says that might be a realistic way to proceed with your home sale without fear that your offspring could become homeless.

“If you can afford it, give the kids the equivalent of six months' worth of rent for a modest apartment, plus the money to cover the security deposit,” he says.

-- Stay focused on protecting your retirement assets.

Many parents go to great lengths to provide every possible advantage for their children from birth through their college years. They expend hard-earned money for fancy birthday parties, music lessons, sports equipment and academic tutors. Some parents even cover the costs for their kids to study or travel overseas.

But by the time parents reach their late 50s or early 60s, many need to focus much more intensely on their own finances rather than on subsidizing their grown children.

“At a certain stage, people must get on with their own lives,” says Donna Goings, a veteran real estate broker affiliated with the Council of Residential Specialists (crs.com).

If you have a grown child or two living with you yet you need to downsize, it might be feasible for your offspring to remain in your next household for a short while, assuming you’ll have a spare bedroom there. But in that case, Goings says you should charge them at least a minimal level of rent, proportional to what income they can bring in.

Should you feel guilty about asserting your own need to downsize, even if that means your boomerang kids can’t go with you to the new place and must find alternative housing? Not at all, Goings says.

“The best thing you can do for your kids is to see that they get on their own two feet so they’ll develop the skills for independence,” she says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)