WASHINGTON — If money were not so tight, Regino Romero would use the basement of his Lorton, Va., town home some other way. But with his former wife gone, his paycheck flat and his bills rising, he sees no option but to rent out the place.

The cash — $400 a month — helps, but it is not enough. So Romero also is offering for rent one of his home's three bedrooms for $350 a month.

Bringing tenants into the home he shares with his three school-age children is a last resort for Romero, who once saw the middle class as tantalizingly within his reach. But with the economy sputtering, inflation increasing to levels not seen in nearly two decades and his family life in flux, he is struggling to survive economically. Although he has worked full time for nearly 14 years as a Hilton hotel cook, he feeds his own family with help from a local food pantry.

"It would be hard for me to work another job, because I have custody of the children," said Romero, 42. "If you don't take care of the kids, they are going to be on the street. So I have to be here when they are home. But I know my salary cannot pay for everything for my children and myself."

Romero's dilemma is not unlike that of many low-wage workers struggling to cope in an economy that has left them behind. A national survey by The Washington Post, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University found that large percentages of low-wage Americans struggle to pay for life's staples. Eight in 10 find it hard to pay for gasoline or save for retirement, while more than six in 10 said it was tough to afford healthcare. And roughly half said they were having difficulty affording food and housing.

Workers are more productive than ever, as the output per person has hit new highs in the past eight years. But rather than funding wage increases for most employees, the fruit of that new efficiency has largely bypassed all but the people in the best-paying jobs, as inflation-adjusted incomes for typical Americans edged downward from 2000 to 2007.

Now, as the global financial system strains to absorb its biggest shocks since the Great Depression, the once faraway world of Wall Street is making things worse for low-wage workers.

Even before last week's dramatic declines on Wall Street, credit markets had tightened, making borrowing more expensive — or impossible — for people and businesses whose credit histories are less than stellar. Already, most lenders are requiring higher down payments for mortgages and more collateral for other loans. Tighter credit means less spending and fewer jobs. Inevitably, those at the bottom of the income ladder are most vulnerable to all of those changes.

"Low-wage workers have had a difficult balancing act in terms of matching their expenses with their limited incomes," said Margaret Simms, director of the Urban Institute's Low-Income Working Families Project. "They are very limited in their ability to deal with an emergency."

More than half of those surveyed in the poll said their incomes had either gone down or stayed the same over the past few years. With their spending power falling, half said they had tapped savings or retirement accounts.

The decline in income during the past eight years, a period of generally robust economic growth and healthy business profits, is one of the most troubling mysteries of the new economy, and it has steadily eroded the standing of those not at the very top of the income ladder.

In some ways, Romero counts himself fortunate because his job includes benefits that are becoming increasingly unusual for low-wage workers: medical and dental coverage, sick time and vacation, as well as an employer-funded pension plan. The survey found that three out of 10 respondents lacked health insurance and a similar portion does not get paid vacations. More than four in 10 reported having no retirement plan or paid sick leave.

The squeeze had gotten so tight that Romero applied for food stamps this year, the first time he has turned to the government for help. But he was rejected because his income of nearly $27,000 put him just beyond the income criteria.

The financial struggles leave Romero at a loss for what lies ahead. His daughter, Veronica, graduates from high school next year and wants to go to college, but Romero has no idea how he'll pay for it. Also, his mortgage rate will reset in 2012, and he doesn't know how he'll pay for that, either.

Still, he remains hopeful. He is active in Calvary Road Baptist Church in Alexandria, where Veronica works periodically as a $7-an-hour baby sitter and where his other children, Jason, 7, and Lezlie, 9, have attended camps free of charge.

"I always believed that if you give good examples for the children, you are going to have good children," he said. "That's why I keep them in the church. I think it teaches them respect."