Fed Report Reveals Financial Impact of COVID on American Households
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Federal Reserve released its Survey of Consumer Finances on Wednesday, revealing “broad-based improvements in U.S. family finances over this period, particularly with respect to net worth.”
Details: The report is released every three years, with this report encompassing 2019-2022. This latest survey offers insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the average American household’s financial situation and the impact of COVID-era economic policies.
Key Quotes: The report states that between 2019 and 2022, real median family income “rose a relatively modest 3 percent, while real mean family income grew 15 percent. Increases in income were experienced across the income distribution but were largest at the top, consistent with some increase in income inequality over this period.” The three-year growth was “one of the largest three-year changes over the history of the modern SCF.”
How the Media Covered It: The report was covered mildly across the spectrum. While the general framing of the report was positive, certain outlets allocated more space to highlight the downsides from the report. Reuters (Center bias) prominently highlighted the growth in economic inequality revealed in the report, and Axios (Lean Left bias) contextualized current inflation and interest rate hikes as Americans “paying the piper now for actions that prevented a financial catastrophe in 2020.” The Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) concluded its coverage with a quote from the report referencing a growth in income inequality but otherwise framed the report as good news.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Americans got richer during the pandemic
During the pandemic, the U.S. government pulled out all the stops to try to keep Americans' financial lives intact. To a stunning degree, it worked.
Why it matters: The pandemic-era actions of the government prevented a spiral of declining asset values, depleted savings and higher household debt.
It is a stark contrast with the 2008 crisis, when there was no widespread private sector debt relief, asset prices plunged, and households spent a decade working through their debt overhang.
The flip side of that is the actions made the federal government's...
From the Center
U.S. income inequality grew through pandemic years, Fed survey shows
American families on average saw large gains in income and wealth from 2019 to 2022 and households became less fragile during a period marked by the severe disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and massive subsequent government spending, a Federal Reserve survey published Wednesday showed.
But the income gains were largest among the highest-earning families, and fastest among white families, with income at the median actually registering small declines for both Hispanic and Black families, the Fed found in its latest Survey of Consumer Finances, conducted every three years.
Median net...
From the Right
Median net worth soared 37% from 2019 to 2022, Fed study finds
Real median net worth surged a whopping 37% between 2019 and 2022, the Federal Reserve revealed in a report.
The Fed released a 58-page report on Wednesday analyzing changes in family finances based on its survey of consumer finances, which it has been conducting every three years since 1989. The newest report is of particular interest because it assesses a period that includes the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s worst inflation in decades.
From 2019 to last year, real median net worth — that is, net worth adjusted for inflation...
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