<p>While most Americans have weathered the pandemic financially, about 38 million say they are worse off now than before the outbreak began in the U.S. </p>
<p>Overall, 55% of Americans say their financial circumstances are about the same now as a year ago, and 30% say their finances have improved, according to a new poll from Impact Genome and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But 15% say they are worse off. </p>
<p>The problem is more pronounced at lower-income levels: 29% of Americans living below the federal poverty line say their personal finances worsened in the past year. Roughly that many also find themselves in a deepening financial hole, saying they struggled to pay bills in the past three months. </p>
<p>Britney Frick, 27, is among those whose finances have taken a hit. She worked as a substitute teacher before the pandemic but her role was eliminated. Initially, she found a telecommunications job that allowed her to work from home, but the hours began to dwindle then dried up altogether. </p>
<p>Frick ended up unemployed for six months but was able to get by using her savings, reduced rent and help from her parents. </p>
<p>“I am slowly getting back on my feet but am nowhere near where I was before COVID," she said. </p>
<p>Frick got a job at a daycare in March and the steady work is helping her rebuild her financial picture. </p>
<p>“I am still living paycheck to paycheck but at least the paycheck is covering the bills," she said. “But I am happy to be back at work honestly and happy that things are kind of returning to normal."</p>
<p>The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economy — the United States still has 8.4 million fewer jobs than it had in February 2020, just before the pandemic struck. </p>
<p>The government has passed three major relief bills in response, which included direct economic relief payments to individuals. That has helped ease the suffering of some. </p>
<p>The latest round of government payments — $1,400 to individuals __ were sent out beginning last month. Households, on average, are using, or plan to use about one-third of the money to pay down debt, about 25% on spending and put the rest into savings, according to a report released last week from the New York Federal reserve. That closely mirrored spending of prior relief payments. </p>
<p>Overall, the Impact Genome/AP-NORC poll found 52% of Americans say they were able to save money for most of the past three months, while 37% broke even and 10% were short on paying bills. Among Americans living below the poverty line, 29% say they struggled to pay bills recently, while just 16% have saved. By comparison, 61% of those living far above the poverty line say they have been able to save. </p>
<p>There also are wide racial disparities, with 57% of white Americans, 47% of Hispanics and just 39% of Black Americans saying they have saved recently. Black and Hispanic Americans are about twice as likely as white Americans to say they have come up short on bill payments.</p>
<p>Andrew Holland said his family’s finances were fairly steady for most of the pandemic. The California resident worked as a hospice nurse and case manager and his wife kept her job with a refinery. But the stress and isolation of the pandemic led him to reconsider his work. </p>
<p>Unlike before the pandemic, he had no in-person interaction with colleagues or friends to relieve some of the pressure of his job. So he quit and found a new job in hospice care with fewer hours. His wife also got a new job with better pay. </p>
<p>While their family finances took a temporary hit and they spent some savings, he expects to recover. Holland and his wife have started tracking their spending more closely and are now planning for an earlier retirement.</p>
<p>“This really made me look at what do I want to do and when do I want to do it," Holland, 35, said. "I feel incredibly lucky that the worst that happened is I lost a month’s of wages and got a job with fewer hours.”</p>
<p>The poll found many Americans — nearly a third — had not had investment or similar long-term savings accounts set up even before the pandemic. Another 19% say they have been able to add more to investments like a 401(k) or a college savings plan, and 38% say the amount hasn’t changed compared to last year. </p>
<p>Holland said he is disheartened by the inequality of how the pandemic has played out for people, and is concerned the imbalance will never be corrected. </p>
<p>“I am glad that it gave me the push to look at my finances and plan a little bit more for the future," Holland said. “I definitely wish it had come at a much lower cost for the world as whole."</p>
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<p>The AP-NORC poll of 2,374 adults was conducted Feb. 12-March 3 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.</p>