Read on Twitter
NEW RESEARCH THREAD Congress is considering new legislation to help Americans still struggling during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. My recent survey w/ @agpines of our sample of hourly service workers with young children sheds light on what these vulnerable families need. 1/n
First we describe what families have experienced over the last 6 weeks, then offer policy solutions. TL;DR families are still struggling & Congress can help them by:
1)renewing Pandemic Unemployment
2)increasing SNAP benefits and
3)streamlining means-tested program access 2/n
1)renewing Pandemic Unemployment
2)increasing SNAP benefits and
3)streamlining means-tested program access 2/n
How are hourly service workers with young children faring 4 months into the pandemic? Not surprisingly, unemployment among these service workers is high: 36% of our sample is unemployed. 3/n
And, families are struggling with food insecurity: 41% worried they would run out of food last month; 30% actually ran out of food in the last month and didnât have money to buy more. 4/n
In their own words families are struggling to meet basic needs:
âRight now me and my kids are homeless and have no one or nothingâ
âHad I paid this month's rent I definitely would have not had any money for food to eatâ
âWe have been struggling to pay rent and buy foodâ 5/n
âRight now me and my kids are homeless and have no one or nothingâ
âHad I paid this month's rent I definitely would have not had any money for food to eatâ
âWe have been struggling to pay rent and buy foodâ 5/n
So many families are not getting support from programs that they are eligible for, like Unemployment Insurance, Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic EBT, expanded SNAP benefits. 6/n
Of the unemployed, 46% report they have not received any Unemployment Insurance (UI), 9% have received only the basic UI, and just 45% have received the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PUC) they should be eligible for. 7/n
UI has been difficult to access. Typical stories:
âI was denied unemployment...and my job keeps pushing the opening date back.â
âI was approved (got financial determination letter) for unemployment a month ago and never received a PIN. No money yet.â
8/n
âI was denied unemployment...and my job keeps pushing the opening date back.â
âI was approved (got financial determination letter) for unemployment a month ago and never received a PIN. No money yet.â
8/n
Nutrition assistance is also not reaching everyone. Of the families who were already relying on SNAP, 35% report they did not get expanded SNAP benefits, despite the government having ostensibly increased everyoneâs benefit level to the maximum amount. 9/n
Also, 63% of those with a school-aged child report they havenât yet received Pandemic EBT [money to replace the school meals that were lost when schools closed], despite universal eligibility for these families. 10/n
Finally, when parents have applied for additional support from safety net programs, many have still not received benefits--often they are unable to jump through all the hoops, while others are told they have qualified yet have not received what theyâre told theyâll get. 11/n
19% of our sample applied for SNAP since the crisis began. Of those, 42% report having been unable to receive it. One parent wrote: âStill waiting to hear about receiving food stamps...Iâm struggling bad.â This is not unusual. 12/n
Our data show similar or even more severe breakdowns in other safety-net programs: One-third of those in our sample who have applied for Medicaid report they have not yet received it, along with three-fourths of those applying for TANF and for WIC. 13/n
Given all this, itâs not surprising that the pandemic is taking a toll of parentsâ mental health: A full 50% of our sample is either depressed (14%), anxious (12%), or both anxious and depressed (24%) 14/n
And childrenâs mental health has also been affected: 7% of children appear sad or worried most of the time; 16% of children are uncooperative most of the time--big increases compared to before the pandemic. 15/n
Parents are concerned: âMy children are extremely irritable. More than usual.â âReally trying to maintain sanity. Mostly worried about the mental and emotional affects on my 6 year old daughter.â 16/n
*** So what can policymakers do to support these vulnerable families as this crisis continues? *** There are at least three things that will help right away. 17/n
1. Congress can extend Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PUC) to provide crucial financial support to families to help them pay for the basics like food and rent, with no evidence that it keeps people from going back to work. 18/n http://scholars.org/contribution/economists-letter-recovery-policy
2. Congress can make SNAP benefits more generous. SNAP not only helps parents feed their families, it also supports broader economic recovery by increasing dollars spent in local grocery stores. 19/n http://nytimes.com/2020/07/19/us/politics/coronavirus-food-stamps.html
3. All policymakers can focus on improving bureaucracy & streamlining benefit access across the safety net ( @sopolicyscholar for how!) Making benefits easier to access supports familiesâ economic well-being but also their mental health--and brings $ into local economies. 20/n
In sum, we have been following ~1,000 hourly service workers since before the pandemic began. It is still taking a toll on familiesâ economic and psychological well-being. Congress can address the needs of families like these and all who are suffering during the pandemic. /end
P.S. How did we gather all of this information from service workers during a pandemic? We used basic SMS text messages for all surveys. More details about our strategy in this newly published paper: https://bit.ly/JMFtextstudy
