60% of US households with children report facing serious financial problems during pandemic: report

More than 60 percent of households with children have faced serious financial problems during the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

That figure is one of many eyebrow-raising findings highlighted in a new report released by NPR and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health that raises concerns about the ability of these homes to weather long-term health and financial harms.

'The Impact of Coronavirus on Households with Children" highlights serious problems reported across a wide range of areas during the pandemic, including depleting household savings, serious problems paying credit card bills and other debt, and affording medical care. 

The key findings include:

•  A majority of households with children (61%) report facing serious financial problems during the coronavirus outbreak. This includes most Latino (86%) and a majority of Black (66%) and White (51%) households with children reporting serious financial problems. It also includes about three in four households with children that have incomes below $100,000 (74%) reporting serious financial problems during the coronavirus outbreak.

• More than four in 10 households with children report they have used up all or most of their savings (44%) during the coronavirus outbreak, while an additional 11% report they didn’t have any household savings prior to the outbreak.

• Six in 10 households with children (60%) report any adult household members have lost their jobs, lost their businesses, been furloughed, or had wages or hours reduced since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Among households with children that have experienced job or wage losses during the coronavirus outbreak, the vast majority (76%) report facing serious financial problems during this time.

• Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, a majority of households with children (59%) report serious problems caring for their children, including more than one in three (36%) who report serious problems keeping their children’s education going.

And when it came to paying bills, more than one in five households with children (23%) reported missing or delaying paying any major bills to ensure everyone had enough to eat, and a majority of households (70%) reported this caused serious financial problems for them. 
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Meanwhile, among the 6 percent of households with children in the U.S. where someone has been diagnosed with COVID-19, adults report substantially worse problems with their finances and caring for children than households who have not had COVID-19. 

Most (94%) of households with children where someone was diagnosed with COVID-19 reported facing serious financial problems during the coronavirus outbreak. 



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