ERIC Number: ED671753
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The COVID-Era Social Safety Net and Economic Well-Being Beyond Child Poverty
H. Luke Shaefer
Poverty Solutions, University of Michigan
During the COVID-19 pandemic the federal government enacted an unprecedented package of social safety net measures, including broad-based cash transfers in the form of expanded unemployment insurance (UI), a series of economic impact payments (EIPs), and the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC). It is well known that these measures-- especially the expanded CTC--were crucial in driving child poverty to an all-time low of 5.2% in 2021 according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), close to a 60% drop from 2019. Beyond reducing child poverty, however, these cash-based safety net measures--along with other COVID-era policies--extended aid well up the economic ladder. Indeed, the full amount of the expanded Child Tax Credit was available to single parents making up to $75,000 and two-parent families with incomes as high as $150,000. This research brief examines changes over time in two additional measures of child economic well-being that serve as complements to the child poverty rate: (1) the proportion of children with family incomes below 200% of poverty; and (2) the proportion of families reporting that they cannot cover a $400 emergency expense in cash or equivalent.
Descriptors: COVID-19, Pandemics, Poverty, Low Income Groups, Family Income, Well Being, Tax Credits, Welfare Services, Eligibility, Measurement
Poverty Solutions, University of Michigan. Joan and Sanford Weill Hall Suite 5100, 735 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. e-mail: povertysolutions@umich.edu; Web site: https://poverty.umich.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: University of Michigan, Poverty Solutions
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Current Population Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A