Poll: 53 percent of lower-income US households won’t be able to pay all of Apri

Just over half of lower-income adults in the US reported that someone in their household had either lost a job or lost hours due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

The survey, of 4,917 US adults in April, revealed that, overall, 43 percent of Americans had someone in their household lose a job or have their hours reduced because of the pandemic. That’s a marked increase from late March, when only 33 percent said so.

But the job loss data is even starker for lower-income Americans. In this survey, Pew classified households making less than $37,500 as lower income, and found 52 percent of those in this income bracket said they or someone in their household had lost a job or had hours reduced. To make matters worse, just 23 percent of lower-income people had enough money saved to cover three months of expenses in case of a financial emergency, compared to 48 percent of middle-income and 75 percent of higher-income adults.

Economic data from the Federal Reserve has shown the economic collapse resulting from the coronavirus pandemic has been deep and impactful. More than 22 million people have filed initial claims for unemployment insurance over the past several weeks. But this study suggests that those who were already in difficult financial circumstances ahead of the pandemic are bearing the brunt of its economic damage. And many Americans were not in as strong a financial position as they may have appeared.

For instance, the study found the economic downturn has put a serious crimp in the average person’s ability to pay their monthly bills. Just over half of lower-income adults — 53 percent — said they’d have trouble paying some of their bills this month, while about a quarter of middle-income, and 11 percent of higher-income adults said the same.