People line up outside a Kentucky Career Center hoping to find assistance with their unemployment claim in Frankfort.Workers making under $15.30 an hour saw greater losses at the pandemic's start and a slow recovery.It's another entry in the pandemic story of a K-shaped recovery.Workers who earned less than the median hourly wage saw greater job losses when the pandemic started and have seen a slower recovery, according to a new BofA Global Research report.
BofA calculates the median average hourly wage as $15.30, using Current Population Survey data. That equates to a salary of around $31,000 a year. The current poverty rate for a single person in the US is $12,880 a year., the median hourly wage is"the wage at which half the workforce is paid more and half the workforce is paid less."
That means those making a yearly salary of less than $31,000 a year saw the greatest job losses when the pandemic hit, and have continued to feel those effects:"Recovery has been far more sluggish with employment 14% below levels seen prior to the pandemic in February 2020," the BofA report says. Those on the other side of the BofA median wage are experiencing things a little bit differently. While they saw a"modest decline" when the pandemic began, the report said, their employment is"essentially back to pre-pandemic levels."
Via BofA Research, employment levels still well below pre-pandemic levels for those making less than the median hourly wage .With no additional stimulus relief, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that unemployment may not rebound to pre-pandemic levels for a decade. Throughout the pandemic, inequality in recovery — and impact — has continually taken shape,