Fed Report: COVID-19 Hits the Poor Hardest

The Fed released its annual report on the economic well-being of US households today, most of which uses data from 2019. However, they also included a bit of data from 2020 reflecting the COVID-19 economy. They report that 13 percent of adults lost their job, but the pain was very definitely not shared equally:

These job losses were most severe among workers with lower incomes. Thirty-nine percent of people working in February with a household income below $40,000 reported a job loss in March.

Unsurprisingly, this is partly because those with lower incomes are unable to work remotely. “Sixty-three percent of workers with at least a bachelor’s degree worked entirely from home. Among workers with a high school degree or less, 20 percent worked entirely from home, as did 27 percent of workers who have completed some college or an associate degree.”