Poverty fell in first months of pandemic

Poverty fell and incomes rose during the early months of the pandemic thanks to government relief, according to a new economic study, even as millions of people lost their jobs.

"Despite a dramatic slowdown in the labor market, our results indicate that poverty fell, and percentiles of income rose in the early months of the pandemic," concluded the study, circulated Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

"We further show that in absence of the stimulus payments and expanded unemployment insurance, poverty would have risen sharply," the study added....