Poll shows most people believe jobs will return

26.4 million have lost employment in the past 5 weeks

WASHINGTON — One out of every 4 American adults say someone in their household has lost a job to the coronavirus pandemic, but the vast majority expect those former jobs will return once the crisis passes, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The economic devastation writ by COVID-19 is clear: 26.4 million people have lost their job in the past five weeks, millions of homeowners are delaying mortgage payments and food banks are seeing lines of cars that stretch for miles. Forty-six percent of all Americans say their household has experienced some form of income loss from layoffs, reduced hours, unpaid leave or salary reductions.

And yet, the survey finds a majority of Americans still feel positive about their personal finances. One possible reason: Among those whose households have experienced a layoff, 78% believe those former jobs will definitely or probably return.

Another positive sign: The percentage of workers who say their household has lost a source of income is not significantly different from a few weeks ago.

Seventy-one percent of Americans now describe the national economy as poor, up from 60% three weeks ago and 33% in January. At the same time, 64% call their personal financial situation good — a number that remains largely unchanged since before the virus outbreak began.

Some of the resiliency can likely be traced to the nearly $2 trillion rescue package enacted by Congress that expanded jobless benefits, extended forgivable loans to small businesses and provided a government check to most Americans — money that has helped stabilize some families’ finances.

Skylar Banks, 24, used her 2019 tax refund and a separate government check for $3,000 to prepay six months of rent on her house. Her plan: to ensure her family’s housing is secure in case coronavirus infections spike in a second wave later this year and the nation’s economy gets worse.

“We’re not sure how many people actually have COVID-19,” said Banks, who lives in Dyersville, Tennessee, and works at Walmart. “If they open everything back up, we have no clue what is going to happen.”

Indeed, the country is split on whether the economy will rebound over the next year. Forty-five percent expect it will improve, while 37% say it will worsen. Just 17% expect it to stay the same.

The survey found Americans overwhelmingly support stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus — 61% described efforts in their area as about right, while 26% said they didn’t go far enough — even as those actions have forced an untold number of businesses to close. Lower income households and those with less education appear especially hard hit by job losses — 29% of those whose families earn less than $50,000 a year said their household experienced a job loss, compared with 22% of those who make more. Similarly, 28% of those without a college degree experienced a household layoff, while just 19% with a degree said the same.