Direct Cash Benefits during the Pandemic: Spending, saving and returning to work
After being forced into unemployment by the pandemic, direct cash benefits allowed New Yorkers to avoid material hardship while adapting to a changing labor market. Using Poverty Tracker interviews, we also find that while New Yorkers put their COVID-relief benefits to good use, they did not substitute for work. Rather the benefits helped people secure their current, and even future, economic survival while they figured out when and how, and not if, to return to work.
Spotlight on COVID-19: The deepening economic insecurity and racial inequity
Using Poverty Tracker data, we find New Yorkers who were already in precarious economic positions bore the brunt of the initial economic fallout associated with COVID-19.
Paid Sick Leave in New York City: How are workers and families being protected during the COVID-19 pandemic?
While a robust paid sick policy is necessary during a pandemic to protect both people’s health and their paychecks, the Poverty Tracker reveals some of New York City’s most vulnerable, including low-income or part-time workers, continue to lose pay when sick.
Shortchanged: Underemployment in New York City
Almost half of working New Yorkers under the age of 65 don’t have enough work.