CHARLOTTE, NC (AP) – About 4 in ten Americans say they still feel the financial impact of the loss of jobs or income in their household as the economic recovery remains uneven for one year in the coronavirus pandemic.
A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research provides further evidence that the pandemic was devastating for some Americans, while others were left virtually intact or even better, at least in terms of their finances. The outcome often depended on the type of work a person had and their income level before the pandemic.
The pandemic has particularly affected black and Latino households, as well as younger Americans, some of whom are now experiencing the second major economic crisis in their adult lives.
“I just felt like we were in a more difficult position, and that’s why the (pandemic) threw us even more into the dirt,” said Kennard Taylor, a 20-year-old black college student at Jackson College. In the first weeks of the pandemic, Taylor lost his job as a server in the campus cafeteria and struggled to make rent and car payments while furthering his studies. He had to move in with his family again.
The poll shows that about half of Americans experienced at least one form of household income loss during the pandemic, including 25% who experienced a household layoff and 31% who said someone in the household would plan fewer hours. Overall, 44% said their household has a loss of income due to the pandemic that is still having an impact on their finances.
The results of the poll are in line with recent economic data. According to the Department of Labor, about 745,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits in the week of February 22, and about 18 million Americans remain on the unemployment rolls.
Thirty percent of Americans believe their current household income was lower than when the pandemic began, while 16% say it is higher and 53% believe there has been no change. About half of those who experienced any form of household income loss during the pandemic say their current household income is lower than it was.
The poll’s findings reflect what some economists called a ‘K-shaped recovery’, where there was divergent happiness among Americans. Those with office work could move on to work from home, while those who worked in hard-hit industries such as entertainment, dining and travel suffered. The poor struggled to recover financially compared to the affluent, and Black and Latino households did not strike back as well as their white counterparts.
Logan DeWitt, 30, kept his job at the government through the pandemic because he could work remotely. But his wife, a childminder, lost her job and after months of searching for a new one, she returned to school. Their financial situation was further complicated by the fact that their firstborn was born in the early months of the pandemic.
‘We were planning to get a house. Had to scrap the idea, and we consolidate into just one car. We cook a lot at home and buy in bulk, ”said DeWitt.
About 1 in 10 Americans say they have not been able to make a home payment in the past month due to the pandemic, and about as many say the credit card bill. Overall, about a quarter of Americans say they have not been able to pay one or more bills in the past month.
Thirty-eight percent of Hispanic Americans and 29% of black Americans have experienced a layoff in their household at some point in the past year, compared to 21% of white Americans.
This recession also hit younger Americans in particular very hard. Forty percent of Americans younger than 30 now report lower income, compared to March 2020. About 4 out of 10 have fewer hours planned. About a quarter say they quit their jobs. Many millennials who experienced the Great Recession early in their adult lives are now experiencing another major financial crisis.
Congress is about to finalize the Biden administration’s $ 1.9 billion stimulus package it includes help for many Americans and business people who still feel the impact of the pandemic. Timing is crucial – many of the emergency relief measures previously adopted by Congress, especially unemployment benefits, will come to an end within the next few weeks.
“It’s really going to help us,” said Nikki Luman, 43, of Ohio. Luman works part-time at her local library, which had to close in the early weeks of the pandemic. The library still operates at low capacity due to COVID restrictions, which means fewer hours for her each week.
“It’s $ 400 a month we’re been missing for the past year,” she said.
Things are not as dire as they were in the early stages of the pandemic for some Americans, in part because of previous measures taken by Washington. The lifestyle changes – less eating, less travel, no more live entertainment – have enabled some Americans to make their financial lives healthier. In the poll, about 4 in 10 say they have saved more money than usual, and about 3 in 10 pay off debt faster than usual.
Tracie Jurgens (44) works in the truck industry. Jurgens said her income evaporated in the first weeks of the pandemic as the demand for truck drivers dropped. Jurgen’s boss was able to get a loan through the Paycheck protection program for small businesses, which he used in the summer to purchase new equipment while things started to recover.
“I do not know what I would have done if he had not got another truck,” she said.
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Swanson reports from Washington. AP reporter Nathan Ellgren contributed to this Washington report.
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The AP-NORC survey of 1,434 adults was conducted from February 25 to March 1, using a sample from the NORC-based AmeriSpeak panel, designed to be representative of the American population. The sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
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Online:
AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/.