A recent U.S. survey shows that 42 percent of adults say they have fallen behind as the COVID-19 pandemic expands the wealth gap in the country.
The Country Financial Security Index polled over 1,300 people in the country after the presidential election.
Though the country's unemployment rate has largely fallen from its peak in April, people of color, low-incomers, women and workers with less education are still mired in economic hardship.
These people are more likely to work in the fields that have been worst hit by the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic further widens the wealth gap between non-Hispanic white households and black households, says a Brookings report, adding that a median white family owns eight times the wealth of a median black family and five times that of a median Latino or Hispanic family.
Meanwhile, the U.S. middle class, with the country's middle 60 percent of the income distribution, has observed slower income growth compared to its top and bottom groups.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
