1 in Every 4 American Parents Struggle to Pay for Basic Needs in 2021

A recent survey shows that one in every 4 parents in the United States struggled to pay for their family's basic needs last year.

In the middle of soaring inflation rates and signs that the economy is encountering a recession, as CNN Business reported, this new survey stated that 1 in 4 American parents expressed that there were times in the past year when they were unable to afford food for their family or pay for rent or mortgage.

Results further showed that 24 percent of parents had difficulty paying for the healthcare their family needed, while 20 percent only sometimes had the right amount of funds to pay for childcare and daycare centers.

Lower-income parents suffer more

Juliana Horowitz, the associate director of research at the Pew Research Center, shared that it is given that all parents across income groups are filled with concerns about their kids. However, lower-income parents have this "added challenge of struggling" to provide their family with basic needs.

The lower-income parents were more likely to express that they had a shortage on their budget for basic needs in the past year, with 52 percent having difficulty spending on food and rent or mortgage.

In comparison, there was 17 percent who said the same for middle-income parents, and surprisingly, 5 percent of upper-income parents struggled to pay for food and 4 percent for rent or mortgage.

The Pew Research Center's recent survey further revealed that 37 percent of lower-income parents struggled to pay for their family's medical or healthcare compared to 21 percent of middle-income families and only 6 percent of upper-income parents.

Regarding difficulty paying for child care, 38 percent of lower-income parents experienced this, while 16 percent of middle-income parents and 4 percent of upper-income parents experienced the same last year.

On another note, among parents at all income levels, the Black and Hispanics were "especially likely" to express that they could not afford food and housing.

Read Also: 5 Important Reasons for Parents To Keep a Budget on Household Expenses

Support has been dropped

The survey also found a major source of financial stress for many working parents: child-related emergencies requiring them to take time off from work.

One in 5 parents working part-time stated that they have experienced extreme stress and worry about losing pay if they needed to take days off from work due to childcare issues. Nine percent expressed that they equally worry about the worst that could happen - losing their job.

A researcher with Stanford University's Center on Poverty and Inequality who studies child welfare policies, Sara Kimberlin, stated that the survey followed the 2020 expanded federal child tax credit expiration, which was supposed to help reduce child poverty in 2021, USA Today reported.

"We might expect to see an increase in the number of families with kids that are struggling to afford things like food and the rent and mortgage and those kinds of basic needs because we saw a drop off of some of those supports that had been in place," Kimberlin declared.

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