Association Between Receipt of Unemployment Insurance and Food Insecurity Among People Who Lost Employment During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: January 29, 2021
This journal article examines whether unemployment insurance and a $600/week federal supplement helped reduce food insecurity among people who lost their jobs during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Primary Takeaways
Among the 1,119 adults in the study who had lost employment during the pandemic, 37% experienced food insecurity and 39% ate less because of financial constraints once or more during the study. The percentage of people who had food insecurity was 4.3 percentage points less among people who got unemployment insurance. The percentage of people who ate less was 5.7 percentage points less among people who got unemployment insurance. The federal supplement reduced food insecurity even more. SNAP and the federal pandemic stimulus did not affect food insecurity.
Overview and Objectives
Around 50 million people in the U.S. lost their jobs during the height COVID-19 pandemic. The authors wanted to know whether receiving unemployment insurance and a $600/week federal supplement helped unemployed people avoid food insecurity.
Hypothesis or Approach
The authors used a difference-in-difference analysis of data on households making less than $75,000 a year, from 15 waves of the Understanding Coronavirus in America Study (April 1 to November 11, 2020).
How This Influences Change
“These findings suggest that expanding the amount and duration of unemployment insurance may be an effective approach to reducing food insecurity,” the authors write.
Research: Go Deeper
More than 50 million US residents have lost work during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and food insecurity has increased.
Objective: To evaluate the association between receipt of unemployment insurance, including a $600/week federal supplement between April and July, and food insecurity among people who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design: This cohort study used difference-in-differences analysis of longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of US adults residing in low- and middle- income households (i.e., <$75 000 annual income) who lost work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were from 15 waves of the Understanding Coronavirus in America study (conducted April 1 to November 11, 2020).
Results: Of 2319 adults living in households earning less than $75,000 annually and employed in February 2020, 1119 (48.3%) experienced unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic and made up our main sample (588 [53.6%] White individuals; mean [SD] age 45 [15] years; 732 [65.4%] women). Of those who lost employment, 415 (37.1%) reported food insecurity and 437 (39.1%) reported eating less due to financial constraints in 1 or more waves of the study. Among people who lost work, receipt of unemployment insurance was associated with a 4.3 (95% CI, 1.8-6.9) percentage point decrease in food insecurity (a 35.0% relative reduction) and a 5.7 (95% CI, 3.0-8.4) percentage point decrease in eating less due to financial constraints (a 47.8% relative reduction). Decreases in food insecurity were larger with the $600/week supplement and for individuals who were receiving larger amounts of unemployment insurance.
Conclusion: In this U.S. national cohort study, receiving unemployment insurance was associated with large reductions in food insecurity among people who lost employment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The $600/week federal supplement and larger amounts of unemployment insurance were associated with larger reductions in food insecurity.
JAMA Network Open. 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.35884
Research Team
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
- Julia Raifman
- Jacob Bor
- Atheendar Venkataramani
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