Black and Hispanic Americans are twice as likely to need COVID-19 stimulus checks to pay their rents and their mortgages as compared to white Americans, a new study showed.
Black and Hispanic Americans are twice as likely to need COVID-19 stimulus checks to pay their rents and their mortgages as compared to white Americans, a new study showed.
Half of the Black Americans polled said they are counting on another round of government financial assistance in order to get by, as compared to 22% of white respondents, the CNBC + Acorns Invest in Your survey revealed. Forty percent of Hispanics and 31% of Asian Americans said they will rely on government financial assistance to make ends meet.
According to the report, 31% of survey respondents spent their stimulus checks on everyday items, but more Black and Hispanic people spent it on rent and mortgage payments than white people reported doing, CNBC reported. Twenty-seven percent of Latinos spent it on housing payments, the highest proportion of any group in the survey. Twenty-six percent of Black respondents indicated spending a stimulus payment on housing, versus 12% of whites, the news site reported.
At the same time, those who need financial assistance are less likely to receive it promptly, with some even missing the payment altogether, the report said. Seventy-six percent of white people said they’ve received at least one COVID-19 aid payment from the government, while only 67% of Hispanics, 65% of Blacks, and 61% of Asian Americans said they received payments.
“Checks are likelier to get lost in the mail, so if you don’t have a bank account for direct deposit, then it’s easier to miss your stimulus payment,” said Louis Barajas, a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.
In fact, 21% of white respondents said they don’t need stimulus checks, and that the government should give the money to someone else who needs it.
Additionally, 40% of Americans had to take emergency measures, including dipping into emergency savings, borrowing money from a loved one and using a food bank, to manage their finances in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Laura Wronski, a science research scientist at SurveyMonkey, noted that the latest figures demonstrate how “people of color are in a much more precarious financial position, which the pandemic has only exacerbate.”
On Saturday, the House approved President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. What is known as the American Rescue Plan is expected to provide millions of Americans with $1,400 payments, increase vaccine distribution and extend unemployment aid through the summer, USA Today reported.
The firm’s recent polling shows that Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan gets support from about seven in 10 people across the country, which is very high, but that support is even higher among minorities, Wronski said.
“These latest data give a clear reason why: Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are just more reliant on the federal help during this crisis, and they’re more worried than others that they won’t be able to get by without it,” she said.
The survey that was conducted by SurveyMonkey was conducted between Feb. 1 and Feb. 8 and more than 6,100 Americans participated.
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