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rates: 6.7 percent for Black workers, 5.2 percent for Hispanic or Latino workers, and 5.7 percent
<br />for workers without a high school diploma.90 Job losses have also been particularly steep among
<br />low -wage workers, with these workers remaining furthest from recovery as of the end of 2020.91
<br />A severe recession, and its concentrated impact among low-income workers, has amplified food
<br />and housing insecurity, with an estimated nearly 20 million adults living in households where
<br />there is sometimes or often not enough food to eat and an estimated 12 million adults living in
<br />households that were not current on rent.92
<br />While economic effects have been seen across many communities, there are additional
<br />disparities by race and income. For example, approximately half of low-income, Black, and
<br />Hispanic parents reported difficulty covering costs related to food, housing, utility, or medical
<br />care.93 Over the course of the pandemic, inequities also manifested along gender lines, as schools
<br />closed to in -person activities, leaving many working families without childcare during the day.94
<br />90 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey: Employment status of
<br />the civilian population by sex and age (December 6, 2021), https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t0l.htm (last
<br />visited December 7, 2021); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population
<br />Survey: Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by race, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, sex, and
<br />age (December 6, 2021), https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea04.htm (last visited December 7, 2021); U.S.
<br />Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey: Employment status of the
<br />civilian noninstitutional population 25 years and over by educational attainment (December 6, 2021),
<br />https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea05.htm (last visited December 7, 2021).
<br />91 Elise Gould & Jori Kandra, Wages grew in 2020 because the bottom fell out of the low -wage labor market,
<br />Economic Policy Institute (Feb. 24, 2021), https://files.epi.org/pdf/219418.pdf. See also, Michael Dalton et al., The
<br />K-Shaped Recovery: Examining the Diverging Fortunes of Workers in the Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic
<br />using Business and Household Survey Microdata, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Working Paper Series (July
<br />2021), https://www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2021/pdf/ec210020.pdf.
<br />92 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Tracking the COVID-19 Recession's Effects on Food, Housing, and
<br />Employment Hardships, https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/tracking-the-covid-19-economys-
<br />effects-on-food-housing-and (last visited December 17, 2021).
<br />93 Michael Karpman, Dulce Gonzalez, Genevieve M. Kenney, Parents Are Struggling to Provide for Their Families
<br />during the Pandemic, Urban Institute (May 2020), https://www.urban.org/research/publication/parents-are-
<br />struggling-provide-their-families-during-
<br />pandemic?utm_source=urban researcher&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=covid parents&utm_term=lhp.
<br />94 Women have carried a larger share of childcare responsibilities than men during the COVID-19 crisis. See, e.g.,
<br />Gema Zamarro & Maria J. Prados, Gender differences in couples' division of childcare, work and mental health
<br />during COVID-19, Rev. Econ. Household 19:11-40 (2021), available at
<br />https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11150-020-09534-7; Titan Alon et al., The Impact of COVID-19 on
<br />Gender Equality, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 26947 (April 2020), available at
<br />https://www.nber.org/papers/w26947.
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