Tracking COVID-19’s Effects by Race and Ethnicity: Questionnaire Two

This feature uses data from phase 2, phase 3, and phase 3.1 of the federal Household Pulse Survey public use files to measure how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected US adults and their households. The continuation of the third phase (phase 3.1) began on April 14, 2021 and is collecting data in two-week intervals. The third phase of the Household Pulse Survey ran from October 28, 2020, to March 29, 2021. The second phase of the Household Pulse Survey ran from August 19, to October 26, 2020. The first phase of the Household Pulse Survey ran from April 23 to July 21, 2020. The survey reports data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, along with data for the 15 largest metropolitan statistical areas.

The public use files report data on race and ethnicity in two separate variables: rhispanic, which is 1 if a respondent is not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin and 2 if they are of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin; and rrace, which has four options: Asian alone, Black alone, white alone, and any other race alone, or races in combination. We use these two variables to create the race/ethnicity categories shown in the feature, mirroring the categories in the Pulse Survey data tables.

We calculate the indicators shown in the feature for each two-week survey period, geography, and racial or ethnic group. We then use the 80 replicate weights provided with the public use files to calculate the standard error for each estimate. We use these standard errors to produce the 95 percent confidence intervals shown in the feature.

We also use the replicate weights to calculate the significance of the difference between the given subgroup estimate and the total population estimate shown on each chart. While it is true that two statistics with non-overlapping confidence intervals are necessarily significantly different, the converse is not true, and two estimates with overlapping confidence intervals may be significantly different.

These numbers are estimates and may not equal the actual totals in each geography. We highly recommend interpreting these results as relative impacts of COVID-19 that can be used to inform race-conscious solutions that account for the pandemic's disparate impacts by race and ethnicity.

This feature will be updated biweekly as new data are released. Phase 2 of the Household Pulse Survey introduced significant changes to the questionnaire and moved to a two-week survey window, creating differences in unit and item nonresponse between the two phases that make direct comparison with phase 1 estimates difficult. We therefore chose to produce a separate feature for phase 2. Phase 3 continued with the same questionnaire and methodology used in phase 2, so we have incorporated phase 3 data into the same feature as phase 2. The two collection periods are demarcated by a dashed line in the charts above.

Phase 3.1 continued with a slightly altered questionnaire, but data collection did not begin immediately after the end of phase 3. The change in phases is demarcated by a dashed line. The survey question for the “employment income loss” variable changed between phase 3 and phase 3.1. In phase 3, respondents were asked: “Have you, or anyone in your household experienced a loss of employment income since March 13, 2020?” In phase 3.1, respondents were asked: “Have you, or anyone in your household experienced a loss of employment income in the last four weeks?” This change is noted in the charts for the employment income loss variable.

For more information, please see our technical appendix.