BE BOLD. Shape the Future. New Mexico State University
“I did not have loss of job nor hours but my husband was unable to work due to type of business and restrictions thus harming [our] ability to make ends meet.”
Introduction
Between March 13 and April 25, 2020, more than 125,000 New Mexicans filed for unemployment benefits.1 The unemployment rate was 11.9% in April 2020 and increased to 12.7% in July.2 This brief includes the experiences and perspectives of food and coronavirus specifically for New Mexicans who have been furloughed, experienced a loss of hours, or lost their job. This brief is part of a three-part series highlighting the results from an online survey3 launched in New Mexico on May 21, 2020 (two months after “stay at home” orders were issued) through social media ads, media coverage, and community partners. The survey was open for five weeks and received a total of 1,487 responses. For detailed information on the full results from all respondents or from those who are experiencing food insecurity, please see the separate briefs dedicated to those topics. Additional analyses are ongoing and future articles will explore these topics in greater detail.
Key Findings
Employment, Food Behaviors, and Eating Habits in New Mexico During COVID-19
Stephanie Rogus1 Diana Gonzales-Pacheco2 Kathryn Coakley2 Shadai Martin1
1 New Mexico State University 2 University of New Mexico
25% of respondents with jobs experienced some type of job disruption or loss: 13.8% had a reduction in hours, 4% had been furloughed, and 7.6% had lost their job since the coronavirus outbreak. Households with one or more children were significantly more likely to have had a loss or disruption of their job since the coronavirus outbreak. Respondents with lower levels of formal education were significantly more likely to have had a loss or disruption of their job since the coronavirus outbreak. Households with lower incomes were significantly more likely to have experienced a job loss or disruption since the coronavirus outbreak.
Links Between Job Loss/Disruption and Food Insecurity
1https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/coronavirus/new-mexico- unemployment-claims-still-high-may-be-leveling/article_8bf55010-8a57-11ea- 8c42-bf297919ec01.html 2 https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.nm.htm#eag_nm.f.1 3 Niles, Meredith T.; Neff, R.; Biehl, Erin; Bertmann, Farryl; Morgan, Emily H.; Wentworth, Thomas, 2020, "Food Access and Security During Coronavirus Survey- Version 1.0", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/RQ6NMG, Harvard Dataverse, V1
Job Loss/Disruptions Affected Significant Portion of New Mexicans and Families
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Figure 1. Food security status by job disruption/loss.
25% of respondents with jobs experienced some type of job disruption or loss: 13.8% had a reduction in hours, 4% had been furloughed, and 7.6% had lost their job since the coronavirus outbreak. More than half of respondents experiencing job loss or disruption since the outbreak were classified as food insecure. Respondents experiencing job disruption or loss were more likely to change food purchasing or eating habits and were more concerned about food access compared to those who did not experience a change in employment. Respondents with job disruption or loss reported needing more money per week to help meet their basic needs if they could no longer afford food ($148 per week with a reduction in hours and $137 with job loss, compared to $124 per week for furloughed and no job impact).
More than half of people experiencing job loss or disruption since the outbreak were classified as food insecure compared to 16.9% who experienced no job impact (Figure 1).
–Survey respondent
February 2021
Job Loss/Disruption and Higher Food Anxiety
Compared to respondents who did not experience a change in employment, those with job loss or disruption were: More likely to already be utilizing coping strategies because they had trouble affording food (Figure 5), such as: Buying food that won’t go bad as quickly (55% with reduction in hours, 65.9% furloughed, 61.5% with job loss, compared to 32.6% with no job impact). Buying different or cheaper food (57.1% with reduction in hours, 58.5% furloughed, 62.8% with job loss, compared to 31.3% with no job impact). Eating less (40% with reduction in hours, 46.3% furloughed, 43.6% with job loss, compared to 19.4% with no job impact).
The top sources of food for respondents affected by job disruption or loss were grocery stores (77.8%), restaurant delivery (68.5%), and growing their own food (38.3%). On average, people with job loss or disruption were more likely to face challenges with food access since the coronavirus, including affordability and the amount and types of food in stores (Figure 2).
Shifting Food Intake and Types
Figure 2. Household challenges (% reporting “usually” or “always” experiencing the challenge since the outbreak) by job impact.
Compared to respondents who did not experience a change in employment, those with job loss or disruption were: More likely to indicate that additional money for food, support for the cost of food delivery, increased benefits for existing programs, and help with food assistance program administrative problems would be helpful (Figure 3). More likely to express anxiety and concern over a number of issues related to food and coronavirus, including quantity, cost, and safety of food (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Percent of respondents reporting worry related to food and coronavirus (responses of 4-6 on a scale from 1 (not worried at all) to 6 (extremely worried)) by job impact.
“I'm learning more about food scarcity in my community and the country, and how it relates to racism and other forms of oppression. I am noticing a lot more people learning about growing food.”
Figure 3. Perceived helpfulness for a variety of potential strategies by impact on job (includes responses of “somewhat helpful,” “helpful,” or “very helpful”).
Compared to respondents who did not experience a change in employment, respondents with job loss or disruption were: Less likely to buy all items inclued in the survey. Differences between those with and without job disruptions were greatest for fresh items, snacks, premade meals, and frozen meat and seafood (Figure 6). More likely to buy bottled water, pantry foods, canned goods, medication, and hand sanitizer compared to respondents without a job disruption.
Acknowledgements
Households with Job Loss or Disruption Purchased Less Food
“The impact to the cattle market caused by the virus has caused a reduction in income to my family as our main source of income is the family's ranch.”
Figure 5. Current strategies utilized by job impact.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the individuals that shared their experiences by completing the survey. We would also like to thank the many community organizations and institutions that assisted with the dissemination of our survey, particularly New Mexico First, New Mexico Thrives, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, and New Mexico State Extension. We also want to thank Gaby Phillips and Aracely Tellez for help with translating the survey into Spanish. The research team is a member of NFACT. The National Food Access and COVID Research Team (NFACT) is a national collaboration of researchers committed to rigorous, comparative, and timely food access research during the time of COVID. We do this through collaborative, open access research that prioritizes communication to key decision-makers while building our scientific understanding of food system behaviors and policies. To learn more visit nfactresearch.org.
More likely to utilize future coping strategies if they have trouble affording food. More likely to need more money per week to meet their basic needs if they couldn’t afford food in the future (an additional $148 per week with a reduction in hours and an additional $137 per week with job loss, compared to $124 for furloughed and no job impact).
Figure 6. Percentage of respondents by job impact indicating they had “bought less” of a given product.