Flattened

How the COVID-19 pandemic knocked financially insecure Alabamians on their backs and widened the racial prosperity gap

A report from Alabama Appleseed

The COVID-19 pandemic has cost Alabamians their lives, health, jobs, savings, and stability. The pain has not been evenly distributed, with disparities appearing along fault lines that seem baked into Alabama’s very foundation. Poor Alabamians have struggled to keep things together, while people of means have mostly gotten by. Black Alabamians have faced a far bleaker reality on average than their white peers. Rural Black Alabamians have suffered worst of all.

Alabama cannot recover unless individuals and families recover. Our businesses cannot recover unless employees are stable and healthy enough to return to work. Our future cannot be prosperous unless children are housed, fed, and able to learn. Supporting Alabamians’ health, safety, and prosperity must be lawmakers’ top priority in 2021.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

We surveyed 389 financially insecure Alabamians from 32 counties, seeking to understand how their daily lives and financial circumstances had changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also used census and other data to look at how the pandemic has affected Alabama as a whole.

We found that Alabama relied disproportionately on Black residents to keep the state running while simultaneously declining to attend to their health, safety, and economic wellbeing.
> Black Alabamians were more likely than whites to work in essential occupations where they risked exposure to the virus, more likely to work in low-paying jobs that experienced high levels of layoffs, and less likely to have access to healthcare.
Regardless of race, most of our survey respondents were in desperate straits.
> Nearly half had lost their jobs since March 13, but only about four in ten of those who applied for unemployment benefits received them, usually after weeks of waiting.
Empty pockets meant wrenching choices with potentially dangerous outcomes.
> Seven out of ten respondents could not pay a recurring expense such as mortgage, rent, or utility bill because because their financial circumstances had changed.

> The majority needed food assistance. A few even spent time in jail after falling behind on fines, fees, or court costs.

“The crisis devastated my well being … not having a job, not knowing if my family and I will eat, no money for medications, gas, medical bills … not being paid and having to sell items from my house just to live. My blood pressure stays elevated and I am experiencing anxiety on a regular basis. I am not asking for a hand out, I just want a job in order to be a productive citizen and take care of my family.”