The Impact of COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments on Young Adult Material Hardship

• In Event: Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 16. Lifecourse Mobility

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread disruptions in employment and income across the United States (US)—especially for vulnerable groups such as young adults and Black and Latine populations. Young adults (YA) remain a particularly vulnerable group, with lower income and wealth levels relative to older adults, owing to limited job tenure and concentration in part-time, low-wage occupations without benefits. Thus, during recessions, YAs are more likely to face unemployment than older adults. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession devastated the economic well-being of young adults who experienced the largest employment losses of that period. In response to the pandemic, the US government enacted several economic relief policies aimed at preventing hardship and severe poverty, and mitigating adverse health impacts. For example, they increased the accessibility and generosity of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and unemployment insurance (UI) and distributed Economic Impact Payments (EIP). Although these relief policies were enacted at the federal level, states also introduced policies that either bolstered or curtailed federal efforts, making them key actors in the distribution of critical federal assistance. Thus, assistance was delivered to varying degrees and on different timelines. This robust government policy response may have buffered families against hardship, yet no research to date has examined how these policies impacted the hardship experiences of the general population or vulnerable groups. We fill the gap in the literature by assessing whether the Covid-19 relief policies reduced hardship outcomes of young adults. Our findings indicate that EIPs helped reduce food and utility hardship among low-income young adults. Thus, this pandemic-era policy reduced food and utility hardship among low-income young adults. The results of this study will provide crucial evidence to inform future federal and state policies aimed at addressing hardships caused by large-scale economic downturns.

Authors

• Tia M Dickerson, Columbia University

• Christal Hamilton, University of Connecticut

• Elizabeth Ananat

• Megan Curran

• Jane Waldfogel

• Christopher Wimer, Columbia University