Tomorrow, 9/15, Census will release income, poverty, & health insurance data for 2019.

Here’s what you need to know to understand the data and what it means for where we are today.

THREAD.

1/The data will NOT reflect COVID-19 & the ensuing recession. Instead, they are best thought of as a snapshot of how things looked BEFORE everything went to hell in a hand basket.

2/The data will show that things were not peachy even before COVID-19 hit. We will likely see a stagnant gender pay gap, high levels of income inequality, significant racial disparities, and a decline in health insurance – all during a year of economic GROWTH.

3/In short, we entered this pandemic more vulnerable because of decades of neglect and underinvestment in working families that left them with little cushion to weather the health and economic shocks of 2020.

4/Sadly, 2019 data will look rosy compared to economic pain that’s unfolding now. Census recently released 12 wks of data on econ impact of COVID-19 on HH.

@nwlc analysis shows alarming rates of hunger & housing insecurity – esp for Black women & Latinas
https://nwlc-ciw49tixgw5lbab.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PulsedataFS-1.pdf

5/ Some highlights:

Over HALF of Black women* (54.5%), Asian* women (56.3%), & Latinas (63.7%) reported a loss of income since March, compared to 45.1% of white* men and 46.0% of white* women.
*non-Hispanic

6/ More than 1 in 5 Black* women (21.5%) & Latinas (21.1%) reported not having enough food in the past week – that’s 3X more likely than white* men (7.0%) to report food scarcity.
*non-Hispanic

7/ More than 2 in 5 Black* women (40.8%) & Latinas (44.6%) reported facing housing insecurity, compared to 15.4% of white* men.
*non-Hispanic

8/It doesn’t have to be this way. @nwlc has resources on steps Congress should take to mitigate the suffering unfolding and lay the groundwork for a shared recovery https://nwlc.org/resources/a-recovery-that-works-for-all-of-us/

9/ These include policies like:
Provide >$50B in relief for child care bc #ChildCareisEssential
#extendUI & #Savethe600 until econ conditions improve
Make direct econ impact payments to families
increase SNAP benefit & expand housing assistance

10/ We don’t’ need to wait until next year’s data to address the deep economic pain.

Congress must enact substantial relief before it gets worse.

END THREAD.