The gulf between those making the least and those earning the most has grown starker in the last six weeks as work from home, paid sick leave, emergency savings, and housing stability become necessities.
Denise Rankin, a makeup artist in Chapel Hill, N.C., already had a hard time making ends meet before she was furloughed at the end of March for an indefinite period. Now, she’s teetering on financial disaster.
“The unprecedented shock to the U.S. labor market has hit employment hardest in low-wage industries,” said Nick Bunker, economic research director at Indeed. “Low-wage workers are often hardest hit by a weakening labor market, but this time they are also getting hit first.”Rankin is an hourly employee who worked for the same company for eight years. Before the furlough, her hours had been cut in December, so her finances were already insecure before the outbreak started.
More than half of lower-income households can’t pay all their bills in April, according to data from the Pew Research Center. This is also the case for Rankin. Every small hit on her finances has a ripple effect on the bills she has to pay. For instance, she paid a $40 late fee for her rent because she didn’t manage to pay it on time in April.
But even those with Medicaid — like Rankin — have to deal with problems people from higher income brackets don’t need to worry about. While COVID-19 testing is free because Congress passed legislation covering the cost of the test, but any additional bills for treatment when someone tests positive aren’t covered.
“These are the people that can't go and run and just immediately stock up on all these goods,” Collado said. “They’re going to be the most susceptible. They’re going to be at a serious deficit for supplies.”
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