Not Enough to Eat: COVID-19 Deepens America's Hunger Crisis
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Not Enough to Eat: SEPTEMBER 2020 COVID-19 Deepens America’s Hunger Crisis Contributing Economist Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach Northwestern University ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FRAC gratefully acknowledges sponsorship of this report from the General Mills Foundation, the Kellogg Company Fund, and PepsiCo. Not Enough to Eat: Food Insecurity vs. Not Enough to Eat COVID-19 Deepens The measure investigated here — sometimes or often America’s Hunger Crisis not enough to eat — is a more severe measure than the concept of “food insecurity” Prior to COVID-19, even in the midst of a strong economy with a that is also tracked by USDA. record streak of job growth and low unemployment rates, in 2018 nearly 8 million (4 percent) American adults reported that members Food insecurity is a measure of their households sometimes or often did not have enough to eat. indicating that a family did not According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse have consistent, dependable Survey (collected April 23, 2020 through July 21, 2020), during access to enough food to live COVID-19, that number has surged to 26–29 million, or 11 percent of an active, healthy lifestyle. adults. Who are the hungry in America today? This report provides Food insecurity has not been a description of who didn’t have enough to eat. measured directly during COVID-19; using available data The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) widely used food we can estimate that food insecurity rate includes a range of those experiencing food insecurity is 25 percent for hardships, including those who lack enough money for food and adults overall, and 32 percent those who couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals. About 1 in 4 adults for those with children. are estimated to be food insecure during COVID-19. This report goes a step deeper to highlight the subset of this group who are Eleven percent of adults and 14 experiencing severe food insecurity, meaning they reported they percent of those with children sometimes or often didn’t have enough food (see sidebar). report that they sometimes or often don’t have enough Not surprising, groups that are most likely to not have enough to to eat during COVID-19. The eat are those that typically disproportionately experience poverty: share reporting they don’t Black and Latinx families, those with less than a college education, have enough to eat closely and children. Approximately 1 in 5 Black and Latinx adults report tracks with the share identified they do not have enough to eat. What is more surprising is the by USDA as having Very Low extent of hunger. It’s not just the poorest families who are facing this Food Security (VLFS), meaning struggle; among those who don’t have enough to eat, 1 in 4 have that the food intake of some usual incomes above $50,000 per year. During this crisis, many household members was have become unemployed, others who have kept their jobs have reduced and normal eating seen their earnings decrease due to reduced hours, and others patterns were disrupted due to are expecting to lose earnings in the next month. The economic lack of resources. shocks they have experienced have pushed many into hunger — potentially for the first time. FRAC n Not Enough to Eat: COVID-19 Deepens America’s Hunger Crisis n www.FRAC.org 2 Research has already found that the following have Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) benefits reduced hunger and other measures of food hardship: helped people and the economy, reducing food Payments from the new Pandemic Electronic Benefit insecurity and also stimulating the local economy.2 Transfer (P-EBT) program, which provides resources In the face of continued high rates of hunger, to families who lost access to free or reduced-price Congress should turn to these proven programs — school meals, lifted 2.7–3.9 million children out of continuing to provide P-EBT payments as long as hunger in the subsequent weeks1 since the pandemic schools aren’t following their normal schedules, and began; and evidence from the prior recession shows increasing maximum SNAP benefits by 15 percent. that increasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Who Doesn’t Have Enough to Eat? Each year, USDA collects a detailed survey on the food available during the past week. Overall, households’ experiences with food access, including between 10.2 and 11.0 percent of respondents asking respondents to choose which statement best report that they don’t have enough food. Rates are describes the food eaten in their homes in the last higher among those with children. In May and June, year: enough of the kinds of foods we want to eat; 13.6 percent of respondents with children said that enough, but not always the kinds of food we want; they didn’t have enough food. In July, that number sometimes not enough to eat; or often not enough to was 14.4 percent.3 eat. In 2018, 3.7 percent of respondents overall and with children reported that they sometimes or often Figure 1 also shows that the share reporting did not have enough to eat as shown in Figure 1. they don’t have enough to eat increases during economic recessions. In 2008, the first year of During COVID-19, the Census Bureau has been the Great Recession, the share without enough asking one question, drawn from the larger set to eat increased by just over one-third overall of annual USDA questions, in which respondents and for respondents with children compared with choose among the same options to describe the prior year. The COVID-19 recession has been Figure 1. Share of Adults (Overall and With Children) Reporting Their Household Sometimes or Often Does Not Have Enough to Eat: 2005–2018 and May–July 2020 16.0% 12.0% 8.0% Respondents w/ Children 4.0% Respondents Overall often do not have enough to eat Percent reporting they sometimes or Percent 0.0% 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 May June July 2020 2020 2020 FRAC n Not Enough to Eat: COVID-19 Deepens America’s Hunger Crisis n www.FRAC.org 3 characterized by a larger and more rapid increase in unemployment rates than the Great Recession, More than 1 in 5 Black which explains some of the reasons why the rate of those reporting not enough to eat has spiked so high and Latinx adults with children in recent months. Of course, widespread closures of reported in July that they Black respondents more than three schools and child care centers that usually provide sometimes or often did not meals to children is also a contributing factor. times as likely as white and Asian have enough to eat. respondents who reported not The shares without enough to eat during COVID-19 having enough to eat. are disproportionately high among Black and more. For respondents with children, the rates are Latinx respondents — especially among those 21 percent (high school or less), 13 percent (some with children. As shown in Figure 2, more than 1 college) and 4 percent (college degree). Rates of in 5 Black and Latinx adults with children reported hunger are consistently high across all adult age in July that they sometimes or often did not have levels, and are lower among older adults. enough to eat. Note that even prior to COVID-19, in 2018 there were stark disparities across groups with The share reporting not enough to eat varies Black respondents more than three times as likely predictably by annual income — with rates much as white and Asian respondents who reported not higher among those with the lowest incomes. During having enough to eat. Every group has seen their COVID-19, 28 percent of those with usual incomes rates of hunger more than double between 2018 below $25,000 per year reported not having enough and today, with rates quadrupling among Latinx to eat (compared with 11 percent in 2018). The share respondents (overall and with children). Across every declines across groups of usual annual income but group, respondents with children in their homes are is still reasonably common among those with higher more likely to report that they don’t have enough to income levels — 1 in 4 of those reporting not having eat. A similar pattern holds across education levels enough to eat had usual incomes above $50,000 (not shown), with 16 percent lacking enough to eat per year. Although across the board every group among those with a high school diploma or less, experienced job losses during COVID-19, those with 10 percent among those with some college, and lower levels of usual income were more likely to lose 3 percent among those with a college degree or their jobs. Figure 2. Share of Adults (Overall and With Children) Reporting Their Household Sometimes or Often Does Not Have Enough to Eat, by Race/Ethnicity: 2018 and July 2020 Panel A. Respondents Overall Panel B. Respondents with Children 25% 25% 23% 20% 20% 20% 19% 20% 17% 15% 15% 15% 10% 10% 9% 10% 9% 7% 7% 8% 6% 5% 4% 5% 5% 5% do not have enough to eat 2% 2% do not have enough to eat 2% 2% 0% 0% White Black Latinx Asian Other White Black Latinx Asian Other Percent reporting they sometimes or often Percent Percent reporting they sometimes or often Percent Race Race 2018 July 2020 2018 July 2020 FRAC n Not Enough to Eat: COVID-19 Deepens America’s Hunger Crisis n www.FRAC.org 4 Figure 3. Share of Adults Overall Reporting Their Household Sometimes or Often Does Not Have Enough to Eat, by Usual Annual Income: 2018 and May–July 2020 30% 28 % 25% 20% 16 % 2018 15% 12 % 11 % COVID-19 10% 8 % not enough to eat 8 % 4 % 5 % 5% 3 % 2 % 1 % 1 % Percent reporting sometimes or often Percent 0% $100,000+ $75,000– $50,000– $35,000– $25,000– $0– $99,999 $74,999 $49,999 $34,999 $24,999 Families Don’t Have Enough to Eat Figure 4.