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Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: new survey evidence for the US

The briefing notes provide new evidence on inequalities in the economic impact of the Covid-19 downturn using survey data that the authors collected from a large representative sample of US workers on 24th March 2020. We find significant inequality in the impact of the economic disruption across workers of different income levels, ages, and those employed under different work arrangements. These findings show that many workers are already feeling the effects of the economic slowdown and expect significant economic hardship as a result of containment measures. We also provide evidence for a need to speedup the implementation of stimulus and social assistance packages to provide quick assistance to help those hit hardest.

Lead investigator:

Abi Adams-Prassl

Affiliation:

University of Oxford

Primary topic:

Jobs, work, pay & benefits

Secondary topic:

Inequality & poverty

Region of data collection:

North America

Country of data collection

USA

Status of data collection

Complete

Type of data being collected:

Phone survey

Unit of real-time data collection

Individual

End date

3/2020

Frequency

One-off

Read the results from this research