Absolute Wealth Mobility in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

While research has found that aggregate levels of family wealth grew during the COVID-19 pandemic across sociodemographic groups, we know less about heterogeneity in wealth accumulation during the pandemic within these groups. Using linked household data from the 2019 and 2021 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 6282), we examine a key measure of wealth accumulation: absolute upward wealth mobility, defined as having more wealth in 2021 than 2019. Conditional on other characteristics, we find that college-educated, homeowning, and younger families were substantially more likely to see increases in wealth between 2019 and 2021, while Black, lower-income, older, and cohabiting and single-female families were much less likely to experience upward wealth mobility. We also find that families with workers who were deemed essential or only worked from home during the pandemic were more likely to experience upward wealth mobility. Our findings reveal inequalities in whether families benefitted from the social and economic trends that boosted household wealth during the pandemic.