COVID-19 has hit Iowans hard – and United Ways of Iowa have results of a study about the impact.
United Ways of Iowa partnered with researchiQ at the University of Northern Iowa to commission a survey about the financial impacts of COVID on Iowa households. The three main concerns reported by respondents were a second wave of virus activity and closures, a household member contracting COVID-19 and mental health issues.
Families with household incomes below $50,000 reported significantly higher concerns about paying for food, utilities and rent/mortgage.
“This study grew out of our prior work to elevate the needs and concerns of families living below the ALICE threshold of $50,000 annually for a family of four. These are families who are not able to meet basic living expenses on a regular basis, despite being employed,” said Deann Cook, executive cirector of United Ways of Iowa. “We were especially interested in hearing from these Iowans and learning how their financial concerns have evolved during the COVID disruptions.”
The survey asked households about their financial status before, during and since COVID shutdowns. It was in the field from Sept. 28-Nov. 2, before the current spike in cases in Iowa over the past several weeks. The response received met the researcher’s goals of a representative same of Iowans in terms of geography, age, income levels and ethnicity.
The study identified several major themes:
COVID has unevenly impacted Iowa families. Respondents with household income below $50,000 were significantly more likely than higher income groups to report loss of income or increased expenses since the pandemic began. These respondents were most likely to report working in occupations that have experienced the greatest disruptions from COVID including hospitality, food service, retail and heath or social assistance.
The study highlighted the fragility of many Iowa household’s financial situations. The percentage of respondents who indicated they could not cover one month of expenses before COVID was 18%; it increased to 31% at the time of the survey. Most respondents received a federal stimulus payment and used it to cover household expenses like food, housing and utilities, but reported it was not enough to cover even one full month of expenses.
COVID-19 has impacted Iowa’s workforce, particularly in the area of childcare. Six percent of respondents indicate they continue to be unable to work at all due to childcare issues and an additional 10% indicate they are working reduced hours due to childcare issues. Extrapolated over Iowa’s total workforce of 1.5M workers – approximately 90,000 are not working at all and 150,000 are not working as much as they could due to childcare issues.
There is a growing population of “newly needy”. These are Iowa households who were able to keep their financial head above water pre-COVID, but now find themselves struggling to navigate resources that they’ve never had to access before like unemployment and food assistance. Respondents who reported the household’s primary source of income was a job(s) more than 35 hours per week was 74% pre-COVID and dropped almost 10 points to 66% at the time of the survey. Those relying on unemployment as the primary source of household income rose from 1% pre-COVID to 11% at the time of the survey. This finding was particularly true of people in their 20s and 30s.
“These themes are consistent with what our local United Ways are experiencing in their communities and what we’re hearing from the 130,000 calls received on Iowa 211 so far in 2020,” said Cook. “This study contains an extraordinary amount of data about the experiences of Iowans that United Ways will use to shape our advocacy efforts and community investments. We are eager to share this new data with others interested in determining opportunities to support those most affected by COVID.”
About United Ways of Iowa
United Ways of Iowa is the membership association of the 24 United Ways serving Iowa communities. Together, they raise more than $60 million annually to support more than 800 programs providing Iowans services in education, financial stability, health and crisis services.
About researchiQ
researchiQ is a collaboration between UNI’s Strategic Marketing Services and the Institute for Decision Making. IDM’s applied research expertise and experience paired with SMS’s extensive primary market research experience and expertise offer an unparalleled portfolio of secondary and primary research services for the economic development industry.
