The COVID-19 recession has hit young workers hard. Over half of unemployed young people were out of work in 2020 because of the pandemic, and poverty rates among young workers have skyrocketed.1 Among those still employed, young people are overrepresented in essential jobs that have kept the economy and communities afloat but are routinely underpaid.
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan boosts income for millions of young workers who were impacted by the COVID-19 recession by temporarily expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and making it available to more workers in 2022. Making this expansion permanent would help to build long-lasting economic security among the youngest generation of the American workforce.