Report: Close to half of NYC workers lost income during pandemic

Almost half of all New York City workers lost employment income because of the pandemic and recession between April and June, according to a new report from the Robin Hood Foundation.

The proportion of low-wage workers who lost their income was even higher among Black and Hispanic New Yorkers. About 70% of Black and Hispanic people who lost their salaries reported that they worried they would run out of food by the end of the month compared with one-third of white people in the same position. 

“These early impacts are troubling but in-line with past economic crises,” the report reads. “New Yorkers who were already in precarious economic positions bore the brunt of the initial economic fallout associated with COVID-19, and New Yorkers of color are overrepresented among those who have endured these losses.”

In the recovery period following the Great Recession, racial disparities also emerged. The wealth of white Americans began to increase from 2009 to 2011, while that of Black households’ continued to decline, according to research from the American Civil

Liberties Union. But even in times of economic strength, a gap exists. Before the pandemic, the unemployment rate among Black Americans was already more than double that of white people. 

The report from Robin Hood criticized COVID-19 relief efforts such as unemployment insurance and stimulus payments for only offering temporary help that also excluded undocumented immigrants. “Relief from the economic fallout driven by COVID-19 is vital,” it reads, “but the results presented in this report show that these stabilizing policies will only bring us back to a place where one in five adults in New York City lived in poverty, struggling to get by.”