Prior to March 2020, one third of Iowans earned less than the living wage of $11 an hour. Everyone’s wages didn't rise with the cost of living, leading individuals and families to choose between groceries or housing, daycare or student loans. Today, Iowa is experiencing an economic emergency greater than we’ve seen in the 2008 recession in addition to prior financial challenges.  

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The Foundations Financial Coaching Certification program is a useful tool to trainees as well as community members to help establish financial stability even with low wages and to survive economic emergencies. 

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• “The Iowa economy has shed 97,200 jobs since February — 35,500 more jobs than were lost in the entirety of the Great Recession.” (Source: http://www.iowapolicyproject.org/2020Research/200902-SWI2020.html)

 

• “The average number of new weekly claims in the first 30 weeks COVID-19 recession (14,813) was greater than the highest weekly total recorded during the Great Recession.” (Source http://www.iowapolicyproject.org/2020Research/200902-SWI2020.html)

 

• Specifically we’ve seen the greatest impact in food services, personal care and service occupation followed by the construction industry. (Source: https://www.tefiowa.org/covid/)

  • “The economy of Iowa employs 1.54M people. The largest industries in Iowa are Elementary & secondary schools (95,929 people), Construction(83,721 people), and Restaurants & Food Services(79,251 people) …”

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Women and people of color are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn.

(SOURCE: http://www.iowapolicyproject.org/2020Research/200902-SWI2020.html)

 

• “Our analysis shows that women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to this crisis than men’s jobs: Women make up 39% of global employment but account for 54% of overall job losses as of May 2020.”  (Source: https://hbr.org/2020/09/dont-let-the-pandemic-set-back-gender-equality)

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• “According to March data from the Department of Labor, last month the unemployment rate for women grew by 0.9%, versus 0.7% for men. And 60% of the 700,000 jobs eliminated in March were women’s.” (Source: https://hbr.org/2020/04/research-u-s-unemployment-rising-faster-for-women-and-people-of-color) 

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• Over half of all Latino workers, and 42 percent of all Black workers are among greatest impacted. (Source: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/opinion/guest-columnist/minimum-wage-living-wage-iowa-raise-the-wage-act-congress-economy-local-control-20190331)

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• “According to the Labor Department, in September 2020, 865,000 women over 20 dropped out of the American workforce compared with 216,000 men in the same age group.” (Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/10/02/919517914/enough-already-multiple-demands-causing-women-to-abandon-workforce)

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Foundations Financial Coaching is one step toward addressing the long-standing inequities, and giving everyone a pathway to financial education. As companies move into 2021 with a renewed focus on equity, we believe equal access to financial education is the catalyst for this shift. 

 

We are seeing nonprofits prioritize their focus toward assisting individuals and families with basic needs and economic stability. The Foundations Financial Coaching Certification program stands to work alongside these efforts in helping individuals and families recover and plan ahead through financial education and resources.