The Impact of the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Recession on Families With Low Incomes

The COVID-19 crisis has disparately harmed low-income households. Across the United States, systemic inequalities in employment, wage-earning, health, and well-being have been strained for sub-populations facing poverty or near-poverty conditions. Drawing on recent surveys and studies, this brief details impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated recession, on low-income families’ employment and income, economic well-being, and physical and mental health. This brief concludes with broad comparisons between the current recession and the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009.

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