The pandemic has affected Americans in different income brackets differently: People who worked low-wage service jobs before the pandemic are most likely to be in serious financial distress now, said Notre Dame economist James Sullivan.
“For those that have low earnings, these payments are often used to make a large payment, like a security deposit, back rent, to pay off a debt or to buy a large durable good,” he said, like a used car to get to work. “They don’t often have enough savings to make those kinds of transactions, and a large payment like that positions them to do so.”