COVID-19, Economic Insecurity, and Marginalized Groups in Alberta

Michelle Maroto | University of Alberta | maroto@ualberta.ca

November 8, 2021

This research brief focuses on how COVID-19 has affected economic insecurity among marginalized groups in Alberta throughout the pandemic. Results come from the August 2020, March 2021, and September 2021 waves of the Viewpoint Alberta Study.

Context

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are diffuse. Globally, at least 250 million people had contracted the virus and 5 million had died from it by November 2021 (1). In Alberta, approximately 7 in 100 people had coronavirus by November 2021 and 3198 are now dead from the virus (2). These numbers are all lower range estimates with many undetected cases and uncounted deaths. Even among those who have not been sick, the travel restrictions, business closures, and physically distancing measures necessary for combating the virus have upended lives with various social and economic effects.

Although the pandemic has changed life for so many, it is also clear that certain groups have struggled much more than others. Disparities in terms of who was and is most at risk for contracting the virus, developing complications, and dying from it have been present since the very beginning of the pandemic. Many divisions across social, economic, and health outcomes have also been present for marginalized. In particular, we have witnessed disparities in terms of employment and income effects, childcare burdens, and changes to overall economic security levels by class, age, gender, and race.

Many Albertans experienced rising economic insecurity during the pandemic, but those from

marginalized groups faced more.

What is economic insecurity?

There are many different ways to assess how different groups have been doing during the pandemic. In this brief we focus on economic insecurity, which refers to the "risk of economic loss faced by workers and households as they encounter the unpredictable events of social life" (3). Economic insecurity goes beyond basic measures of income and poverty to consider whether families and households have adequate resources to weather financial hardship.

Throughout this brief, we incorporate two key measures – difficulty meeting expenses and COVID-19-related declines in household income. The first measure addresses whether the respondent had any difficulties meeting their monthly expenses, and the second indicates whether the respondent experienced any declines in household income that they specifically attribute to COVID-19. Together, these measures help us to go beyond income to see how respondents have been able to balance things during the pandemic and to get at whether the pandemic directly affected security through income.

How has economic insecurity changed throughout the pandemic?

As shown in Figure 1, over time, approximately 40% of respondents in each wave of the survey reported that it was somewhat or very difficult to meet monthly expenses during the pandemic with a larger percentage of respondents indicating difficulties in August 2020. The change over time was especially apparent among respondents reporting the meeting their monthly expenses was very difficult. In August 2020, 15% of respondents said that it was very difficult to meet expenses, compare to approximately 10% of respondents in March and September 2021.

Additionally, about 50% of people in each wave reported declines in their household incomes that they connected specifically to COVID-19. The percentage of respondents reporting declines also decreased across waves, but the change here was small. This may also be because respondents were not given a specific time frame for reporting when those declines occurred because the survey question just referred to any point in the pandemic. However, it could also be that the effects of COVID-19 on income have been lasting for many.

Figure 1: Experiences of Economic Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Experiences of insecurity were greater toward the beginning of the pandemic, but many

Albertans still felt insecure as the pandemic continued on.

Which groups are more likely to experience economic insecurity?

Findings from the Viewpoint Alberta Survey show many divided in experiences of economic insecurity. In particular, members of marginalized and less advantaged groups were more likely to experience insecurity. We find differences by income, age, race, gender, and family status.

Figure 2 presents the percentage of respondents reporting that they had any difficulty meeting expenses during the pandemic (left) and the percentage who experienced income declines (right) broken down by the respondent’s reported household income level.

Figure 2: Experiences of Economic Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Income Level

In terms of difficulties meeting expenses, there is a clear income trend. Respondents with annual household incomes below $40,000 were most likely to report that they were unable to meet monthly expenses, with declining rates as income levels increased. Experiences of income declines were also more common among lower-income households, but middle- and higher-income households were not spared from income losses.

 Figure 3: Experiences of Economic Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Age

Figure 3 expands on this information by depicting disparities across age groups. Older adults, age 55 and older, stand out as being least likely to report difficulties meeting expenses and income declines. Despite being most at risk from complications from COVID-19, older adults were less likely than younger age groups to report experiencing insecurity during the pandemic.

Figure 4: Experiences of Economic Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Race/ethnicity

Figure 4 also shows some differences in experiences of insecurity by race/ethnic background, but these changed over time (4). Racial disparities were most present at the beginning of the pandemic in the August 2020 survey wave. At this time, 52% of racial minority respondents reported difficulties meeting expenses compared to 42% of white respondents. Additional, 62% of racial minority respondents described COVID-19-related income declines, compared to 48% of white respondents. In later waves, however, these disparities were less apparent. This could be due to changing situations throughout the pandemic or it could be related to our measurement of racial identity with combines many racial minority groups together.

Figure 5: Experiences of Economic Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Gender and Family Status

Finally, Figure 5 presents differences in experiences of economic insecurity broken down by gender and family status. It considers the intersection of three status -- gender (indicated as male or female), relationship status (indicated as whether the respondent had a partner present in the household), and parental status (indicated as whether the respondent had any children under 19 present in the household) (5). This resulted in eight total categories to compare. However, we do not show results for single men with children present due to the small sample size of this group. We also only show results for the most recent survey wave in order to avoid overcomplicating the graphs.

In terms of economic insecurity, it is important to consider both gender and family status together because insecurity is really about households, not just individuals. In some situations, having a partner present can help to limit exposure to insecurity. In other situations, having other family members to can for can make the consequences of insecurity greater.   

Trends in insecurity were present for both measures. Women -- especially single female parents -- were more likely to have difficulties meeting expenses and to have experienced income declines due to COVID-19. Sixty-one percent of single mothers reported difficulties in meeting expenses -- twice the rate of the least affected group, childless men with partners. Additionally, 57% of single mothers reported income declines compared to 43% of childless men with partners and single childless women.

Younger adults, racial minorities, low-income households, and single mothers tended to

experience the highest rates of insecurity during the pandemic.

Summary

Across three waves of survey data, it is clear that experiences of economic insecurity over the COVID-19 pandemic varied across groups in Alberta. Many, if not most, Albertans had troubles meeting expenses and experienced income declines. However, younger adults, racial minorities, low-income households, and single mothers experienced the highest rates of insecurity during the pandemic.

Methodology of the Viewpoint Alberta Survey

The August 2020 Viewpoint Alberta Survey was conducted between August 17 and 30, 2020. The survey was deployed online by the Social Sciences Research Laboratories (SSRL). A copy of the survey questions can be found here: https://bit.ly/35rtU9F. SSRL co-ordinates the survey with an online panel system that targets registered panelists that meet the demographic criteria for the survey. Survey data is based on 825 responses with a 17-minute average completion time. This wave of the Viewpoint Alberta Survey was led by co-principal investigators Loleen Berdahl, Elaine Hyshka, and Jared Wesley. It was funded in part by an Alberta-Saskatchewan Research Collaboration Grant from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Alberta and the College of Arts and Science at the University of Saskatchewan.

The March 2021 Viewpoint Survey was conducted between March 1 to 8, 2021, in Alberta and March 1 to 10, 2021, in Saskatchewan. The survey was deployed online by the Leger. A copy of the survey questions can be found here: http://bit.ly/30VcYEY. Leger co-ordinates the survey with an online panel system that targets registered panelists that meet the demographic criteria for the survey. Survey data is based on 1602 responses (802 Alberta, 800 Saskatchewan) with a 17-minute average completion time. This wave of the Viewpoint Survey was led by co-principal investigators Loleen Berdahl and Jared Wesley. It was funded in part by a Kule Research Cluster Grant and an Alberta-Saskatchewan Research Collaboration Grant from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) at the University of Alberta and the College of Arts and Science at the University of Saskatchewan.

The September 2021 Viewpoint Alberta Survey was conducted between September 21 and October 6, 2021. The survey was deployed online by Leger. A copy of the survey questions can be found here: https://bit.ly/2YEMObS.  Leger co-ordinates the survey with an online panel system that targets registered panelists that meet the demographic criteria for the survey. Survey data are based on 1204 responses with a 17-minute average completion time. This wave of the Viewpoint Alberta Survey was led by co-principal investigators Jared Wesley, Michelle Maroto, Feodor Snagovsky, and Lisa Young. It was funded in part by a Research Cluster Grant from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) at the University of Alberta.

Online survey methods are currently one of the best ways to quickly solicit responses from a broad range of people; however, they do have certain limitations that must be noted. First, although they include participants from many backgrounds, online samples are not always representative of the population and do not offer the same benefits as fully random samples. People who participate in online surveys likely differ in certain ways from those who do not. This makes weighting against other population characteristics very important for accounting for such bias. Second, social desirability bias, which occurs when respondents answer questions based on how they think they should answer them versus how they really feel, could also affect survey responses to sensitive questions. This is harder to account for in survey analysis and must always be considered.  Third, sample size for certain subgroups also limited our ability to fully explore variation across different outcomes. Future surveys with larger sample sizes and those targeted to specific groups could help to overcome this limitation.

In order to address these limitations, all estimates presented in this data brief are weighted using a set of survey sampling weights. These weights are based on the respondent’s age, education, gender, and region of the province. However, bias might also occur in relation to other observed and unobserved factors. We also include error bars around estimates and provide 95% confidence intervals when possible.

Endnotes

1. WHO COVID-19 Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/

2. Rate calculated based on total cases by November 13, 2021 (329,796 cases) and population as of July 1, 2021 (4,442,879 persons) for a rate of 7.4% of the population. Case data available here: https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm#total-cases. Population data available here: https://www.alberta.ca/population-statistics.aspx.

3. Western et al. 2012, 342.

4. The Viewpoint survey asked about respondents’ racial and ethnic identities based on census categories. Respondents were allowed to choose multiple options in response to a question that asked, “Which of the following best represents your racial or ethnic heritage?” For this data brief, those who included “white” as one of their options are coded as “white.” This resulted in slightly more conservative estimates of differences by race. Because of limitations due to sample size, we also combine all racial minority groups together, which limits our ability to assess variation across many groups.

5. Although the survey allowed respondents to choose options other than male or female for their gender, few respondents chose other options, such as non-binary or transgender. Due to the small numbers, we have excluded these individuals from the gender analyses.