It’s been a year since the coronavirus crisis brought the economy to its knees, and some people may never recover financially.
Despite recent signs of improvement – including modest job gains and vaccine progress at Covid-19, which paves the way for a more open economy – about half of adults working in the United States said the impact of the pandemic will make it more difficult for they achieve long-term – term financial targets, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.
Among those who said their financial situation worsened, 44% said it will take three years or more to get back to where they were 12 months ago – and 1 in 10 said their finances will never be the same.
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“There are certain groups that have not only lost their jobs in their families, but are having to take on debt – these are things that have consequences for their future,” said Juliana Horowitz, one of the authors of the report.
Inequality has been a hallmark of the recovery from the pandemic, marked by job losses for those at the bottom and growing wealth for those at the top.
This so-called K-shaped recovery has divided the country almost in half, with wealthier Americans doing even better than before, while millions more have faced setbacks.
Low-income adults, as well as blacks and Hispanic Americans and those under 30, were most likely to say that they or someone in their household had lost their job or suffered a cut in wages since the coronavirus outbreak began, the study found. Pew.
As a result, they had to postpone payment of certain bills and go into debt in the face of urgent financial problems, including food insecurity.
Meanwhile, high-income adults are more likely to say that their families’ financial situation has improved in the last year, largely due to spending less and saving more.
“High-income adults are also more likely to have jobs that can be done at home, so they have not experienced job losses to the same extent,” said Horowitz.
About 4 out of 10 wealthy Americans said their families’ financial situation had changed for the better, compared with 32% of those on average income and only 22% of low-income adults, Pew found.
The overwhelming majority of high-income adults – about 86% – said their finances are good, if not excellent. The same is true for about 6 out of 10 adults with at least a four-year university degree, white and Asian Americans, men and people 65 and older.
Alternatively, about three-quarters of low-income adults, blacks and Hispanics, and those without a college degree, said their personal finances are in good or bad condition.
The Pew Research Center interviewed more than 10,300 American adults in January.
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