This factsheet provides an analysis of week 26 (March 3, 2021 – March 15, 2021) of the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey measuring the social and economic impact of COVID-19 on households. It shows that compared to white, non-Hispanic men and women:

• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely to be in households that have lost employment income since March 2020.
• Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely to report that they expected their household to lose employment income in the next four weeks.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely to be behind on their rent payments.
• Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely to be behind on their mortgage payments.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely to be in households facing food insufficiency.

The post Over a Year Into the Pandemic, Women Still Face Economic, Housing, and Food Insecurity appeared first on NWLC.

The COVID-19 recession has exposed deep racial and gender inequities in our economy, and we need significant and sustained public investments to address the inequities and build an equitable recovery. Raising taxes on the wealthy and big corporations would not only help support long-term investments in areas like child care, paid leave, and health care, it would also make the tax code more progressive and advance racial, gender, and economic equity.

This issue brief outlines revenue raising tax policies, including:

• raising taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals,
• taxing income from capital like income from work,
• meaningfully taxing inheritance, and
• strengthening tax enforcement on the rich and powerful.

The post Raising Revenues to Rebuild an Economy that Works for Everyone appeared first on NWLC.

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession have devastated the financial security of many families.  But even prior to the pandemic, economic insecurity was a common experience for many U.S. families. While financial precarity is a common experience, it does not fall evenly. Women—especially Black, Latina, and Native women; women with disabilities; immigrant women; and LGBTQ individuals—have long been disproportionately likely to experience poverty and hardship. These experiences are often grounded in gender, racial, and other forms of injustice across education, housing, health care, employment, tax, and other economic systems.  During the pandemic, unsurprisingly, health and economic consequences including unemployment, food insecurity, and housing insecurity have likewise fallen more heavily on women of color, as well as families with children.

All people should have what they need to live with dignity and opportunity, including a stable income, an affordable and accessible home, adequate nutrition, and the opportunity to build wealth. Public benefits programs help fill the gaps between inadequate income and the rising costs of food, rent, and raising children. These supports also further long-term economic mobility, improving health, education, and employment outcomes for individuals and families. They are especially important during economic downturns when people lose income, helping to mitigate hardship and boost the economy.

This fact sheet highlights participation and anti-poverty impacts of several programs that boost nutrition, incomes, and housing affordability before the pandemic started, underscoring that investing in these programs is especially important for women, particularly women of color. The stark inequities that COVID-19 has laid bare and exacerbated have only amplified the need for these public programs.

The post By the Numbers: Data on Key Programs for the Well-Being of Women & Their Families appeared first on NWLC.

This factsheet provides an analysis of week 30 (May 12, 2021 – May 24, 2021) of the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey measuring the social and economic impact of COVID-19 on households. It shows that compared to white, non-Hispanic men and women:

• Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely to be behind on their rent payments.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely to be behind on their mortgage payments.
• Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely to be in households that have lost employment income in the last four weeks.
• Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely to report that they expected their household to lose employment income in the next four weeks.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely to be in households facing food insufficiency.

The post Women of Color Would Be Hardest Hit If Eviction Protections End appeared first on NWLC.

This factsheet provides an analysis of week 34 (July 21, 2021 – August 2, 2021) of the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey measuring the social and economic impact of COVID-19 on households. It shows:

• Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be in households that received an advance Child Tax Credit payment.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be in households facing food insufficiency.
• Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be in households that have lost employment income in the last four weeks.
• Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be behind on their rent payments.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be behind on their mortgage payments.
• Among those in households with children under 12, Asian, non-Hispanic women, Black, non-Hispanic women, and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men to report that children in the household did not have child care in the last four weeks.

The post Women of Color Use Their Advance Child Tax Credit to Cover Food Costs appeared first on NWLC.

(Washington, D.C.) Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released new data on health insurance, poverty, and income from 2020. More than 12.6 million women were left without health coverage last year, putting them at increased health and financial risk due to the combined threats of COVID-19 and an uncertain economy. Women in America continued to be at higher risk for being poor—and women of color remain most at risk. The wage gap for women overall narrowed by a single penny to 83 cents, but even this small change likely reflects a distortion due to the millions of women who left the workforce in 2020, creating an artificial comparison between men’s and women’s wages. Black women and Latinas consistently experience the steepest wage gaps, according to analysis by the National Women’s Law Center.

Health Insurance Coverage

“Data cannot paint the full picture of how fractured our health care system is,” said Dorianne Mason, NWLC Director of Health Equity. “Millions of women lost their jobs during the pandemic, and these numbers reflect that some also lost their health coverage along with their jobs. What’s not revealed in the data are the real experiences of people – including many frontline workers – who are not offered health coverage by their employer, and people who have so few resources that they are forced to choose between their housing or food and medication. It’s time for us to reimagine our health care system and guarantee every person access to quality, comprehensive health care.”

2020 Health Insurance Coverage Toplines:

• Despite more than 92 percent of women and girls having some form of health insurance in 2020, more than 12.6 million remained uninsured.
• Uninsurance rates varied by race/ethnicity:
  • Latinx women and girls (16.6 percent) were three times more likely than white, non-Hispanic women and girls (4.7 percent) to be without insurance in 2020.
  • 9 percent of Black women and girls were uninsured last year, along with 5.8 percent of Asian women and girls.
• Over one in ten non-elderly adult women were without insurance in 2020, meaning nearly 10.3 million women 19-64 were uninsured last year.
• Over 1 in 9 women of reproductive age (19-54) were uninsured in 2020, meaning more than 8.5 million were without insurance last year.
• Compared to 2013, over 12.2 million more people have health insurance coverage. However, 8.6 percent of people were uninsured in 2020.

***In 2018, Census stopped publishing data that provides analysis of women by race/ethnicity.

***The Census Bureau only counts individuals as uninsured in 2020 if they did not have insurance for all 12 months. There were massive job losses which caused some workers to have lost employer sponsored health insurance coverage at some point last year. However, because they may have had insurance for part of the year, they are not counted among the uninsured and uninsurance rates for 2020 may appear artificially low.

Poverty Snapshot in 2020

“Far too many politicians pretend poverty is a personal choice made by people experiencing hardship, but what we’ve shown in the last year is poverty is a choice made by those very politicians,” said Melissa Boteach, NWLC Vice President of Income Security and Child Care. “After decades of efforts to sabotage our safety net, the pandemic has given us a rare opportunity to see the monumental change we can bring to the lives of people struggling to feed their families, keep their jobs, and stay in their homes. As Congress debates the Build Back Better agenda, we urge them to consider the lessons of this data and enact policies that helped people survive this crisis and will help all of us survive the crises to come.”

2020 Poverty Toplines:

• Nearly 15.1 million women 18 and older, or more than 1 in 9, lived in poverty in 2020.
• Poverty rates were far worse for many women of color: 19.0 percent of Black women and 16.8 percent of Latina women were in poverty last year as compared to 6.8 percent of white, non-Hispanic men.
• Women made up more than 6 in 10 seniors who lived in poverty last year, with the poverty rate for senior women at 10.1 percent.
• Nearly 1 in 3 female-headed families with children were poor in 2020.
• Nearly 6 in 10 poor children lived in a female-headed household last year.

Wage Gap in 2020:

“News that the gender wage gap narrowed slightly last year is unfortunately only a pandemic mirage,” said Emily Martin, NWLC Vice President for Education and Workplace Justice. “The gap tightened not because women were earning more, but because women were disproportionately those who lost their jobs entirely—and those in low-paid jobs were hit the hardest. As the women doing those low-paid jobs—in restaurants, in retail, and as child care workers and hotel housekeepers—left the workforce, the wage gap artificially appeared to be closing. But race and gender wage gaps are still robbing women of tens of thousands of dollars a year. At this moment of a pandemic and continuing economic uncertainty, it’s bitter news for Black women, Latinas, and other women of color who are shortchanged the most. One third of Black women are essential workers who keep the country going, but they are still paid less than men in the same occupations. Over a 40-year-career, many women of color stand to lose more than a million dollars to the wage gap. This is life-changing money. Women and their families simply can’t afford inaction on equal pay.”

2020 Wage Gap Toplines:

• Women working full time, year round were paid just 83 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2020.
• The wage gap was even worse for many women by race/ethnicity:
  • Asian women working full time, year round were paid 101 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.
  • Black women working full time, year round were paid just 64 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.
  • Latina women working full time, year round were paid just 57 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.
  • White, non-Hispanic women working full time, year round were paid just 79 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.

***Between February and April 2020, 22.3 million people lost their jobs, many of whom were low-paid workers. Millions of these workers were unemployed for extended periods of time and millions of others dropped out of the labor force entirely and have yet to return.

***Since wage gaps capture full-time, year-round workers, this year’s data cannot fully capture what happened to wages in 2020. It is not possible to compare this year’s data to previous years since it fails to account for the massive job losses workers, and especially low-paid workers, experienced in 2020.

*** Wage gap data is not yet available for Native American or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander women.

NWLC will continue to update its analysis ­­here.

The post In 2020, More than 12.6 Million Women and Girls Lacked Health Insurance; Being a Woman Still Raised the Odds of Being Poor in America; and the Wage Gap for Women Overall Narrowed to 83 Cents appeared first on NWLC.

Every September, the National Women’s Law Center analyzes national wage gap, poverty, and health insurance data from the previous calendar year by gender, race, and ethnicity, among other characteristics. This data comes from the Current Population Survey (CPS) collected by the Census Bureau.

Compared to previous years, the data will reflect the highly unusual and chaotic nature of 2020—like job losses—due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the timing and questions used by the Census Bureau severely complicate the use of the data.

In order to accurately address wage gaps, poverty, and lack of health insurance in a timely manner, the Census Bureau must improve their data collection. It should be released earlier in the year, rephrase questions to reflect true gaps in health insurance coverage, and better capture respondents’ identities.

We Can’t Compare Wage Gap Data to Previous Years

Data on wages, and ultimately the wage gap, is crucial to show how women—particularly women of color—continue to be underpaid for their work compared to men in the same occupations.

Wage gap data is calculated for people who worked full time (35+ hours/week) and year-round (50-52 weeks) in the previous calendar year. With the job losses during the pandemic, fewer people met these conditions.

Additionally, Since women of color are more likely to work in lower paying jobs, they are more likely to have lost their jobs during the pandemic. Removing them from these calculations gives the appearance that the wage gap has shrunk for women of color.

Wrongly Phrased Questions About Health Insurance

The Census Bureau only considers people uninsured if they lacked health insurance for the entire year. This means even if someone had insurance for only one month in 2020, they are considered to have health insurance in 2020. Not only is this misleading, but it also disguises the true number of people lacking health insurance.

Due to the great number of workers that lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, we would have expected to see decreases in health insurance coverage. However, when taking a closer look, it is likely that those who lost their jobs were primarily low-paid workers who may not have had employer sponsored health insurance to begin with.

Without accurately collecting data on the number of uninsured people, we cannot begin to address the issue and aid populations lacking health insurance.

Late Release of Data

The Current Population Survey (CPS) data released every September reports figures on the previous calendar year. In other words, the data Census just released is for 2020, and was released 9 months after the end of 2020, and 6 months after data collection in March 2021. The lag in data release obstructs the opportunity to address wage gap and other disparities in a timely way.

We need the Census Bureau to improve their data collection to allow for greater chances to focus on wage gaps, poverty, and health insurance gaps for the populations that require our attention. They must collect their data earlier in the year, like January or February, rather than March. This would allow the results to be released quicker, giving us the space and time for a call to action and solutions.

Without accurate and timely data, our opportunities to begin to discuss closing the wage gap, decreasing poverty, and increasing health insurance coverage become slimmer. This is no longer a matter of if we can do better with data collection, but rather a necessity that we must do better to address the health of continuously underserved and undervalued populations in this nation.

Read the National Women’s Law Center’s 2020 data on wage gaps, poverty, and health insurance here.

The post Why We Cannot Take The 2020 Wage Gap and Health Insurance Data at Face Value appeared first on NWLC.

The poverty rate increased between 2019 and 2020 – unsurprisingly given the health and economic shock brought on by COVID-19. But a key takeaway from this year’s data is that critical programs such as economic impact payments (also called stimulus payments) and unemployment insurance benefits prevented millions from falling into poverty last year. In fact, the supplemental poverty measure showed that amidst historic hardship and unemployment, the poverty rate actually fell due to the effectiveness of public supports.

The fact remains, however, that women and especially women of color, faced disproportionate poverty and hardship. In 2020, over 1 in 9 women – or nearly 15.1 million – and nearly 1 in 6 children – over 11.6 million – lived in poverty. Some women of color, women with disabilities, and families headed by unmarried mothers all face even higher rates of poverty. About 6 in 10 (58.4%) of all poor children lived in families headed by unmarried mothers.

The post National Snapshot: Poverty Among Women & Families, 2021 appeared first on NWLC.

The post NWLC Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau COVID-19 Household Pulse Surveys appeared first on NWLC.

This factsheet provides an analysis of week 39 (September 29, 2021 – October 11, 2021) of the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey measuring the social and economic impact of COVID-19 on households. It shows:

• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be in households that have lost employment income in the last four weeks.
• Black, non-Hispanic women, Latinas, and white, non-Hispanic women were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men to be in households that received a Child Tax Credit payment.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be in households that did not have enough to eat.
• Black, non-Hispanic women, Latinas, and white, non-Hispanic women were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men to be behind on their rent payments.
• Black, non-Hispanic women and Latinas were more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to be behind on their mortgage payments.

The post Black, non-Hispanic Women and Latinas Are More Likely to Be in Households That Have Lost Employment Income appeared first on NWLC.