Parent Predicament: Economic Insecurity across Households With and Without Children Since the Onset of COVID-19

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  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7. Inequality and Policy

Abstract

Using recent data from a national sample of 3.3 million households in the Household Pulse Survey (U.S. Census Bureau 2024), we examine household-level difficulty with expenses across American households with and without children since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic until September 2024. We address two questions: How have households with and without children fared economically since the onset of COVID-19? How do these trends in household economic insecurity reflect governmental policies during this time? Using survey-weighted logistic regressions and controlling for background demographic and socio-economic variables, this research finds that the three broad patterns emerge. 1) In early 2021, households with two or more children exhibit equal or slightly lower predicted probabilities of difficulty compared to childless adults. 2) In 2022, hardship rises across all groups, but increases are steeper among larger families. 3) In 2023-24, households with three or more children display the highest predicted probabilities of difficulty, with clear divergence from childless households.

Authors

• Loretta Bass, University of Oklahoma

• Emily R. D. Bonner, University of Oklahoma