Child Tax Credits Provided Significant Relief to Families Experiencing Economic Shocks during COVID

A new study led by School of Public Health researchers reveals that the now-expired 2021 CTC expansion benefitted families experiencing financial setbacks due to health or employment challenges spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published in the journal Health Affairs Scholar, the study found that monthly advance payments included in the 2021 CTC expansion enabled all families with children to afford enough food, but it particularly benefited families with children who experienced economic shocks—defined as missed work due to illness, furloughs, or job loss—during the pandemic.

These advance payments, which provided an extra $250-$300 per month to the majority of American households with children from July 2021 to December 2021, reduced food insufficiency by 11 percent in families with children experiencing these economic shocks, compared to families who didn’t experience the shocks and families without children, the new findings show. Low-income, Black, and Hispanic families reaped the greatest benefits, as these groups were most likely to miss work during the pandemic and least likely to earn paid sick leave.

Read more about the study here.