Pandemic precarity: COVID-19 is exposing and exacerbating inequalities in the American heartland

The 2008 Great Recession widened socioeconomic inequities among young adults, people of color, and those without a college degree. The COVID-19 pandemic raises renewed concerns about inequality. Leveraging pre-post data from a population-representative sample of Indiana residents, we examine employment and food, housing, and financial insecurity. Comparing data before COVID-19 reached the state and during the initial stay-at-home orders, we find socioeconomic shocks disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups, controlling for prepandemic status. Findings are consistent with patterns of inequality observed following other disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, the Chicago Heatwave, the Buffalo Creek Flood, and the Great Recession. As with these disasters, additional surges are likely to escalate short-term hardships, revealing the axes of social devastation that translate into durable inequality.