Table 2.
Economic and food-related characteristics by food security status for a sample of survey respondents in Massachusetts to the Census Household Pulse Survey, March 2020 – March 2021 (n = 57678)1.
|
Food Security2 (n = 39134) n (%) |
Marginal Food Security2 (n = 12620) n (%) |
Low Food Security2 (n = 2086) n (%) |
Very Low Food Security2 (n = 467) n (%) |
p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMPLOYMENT STATUS | |||||
| Loss of employment3 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Yes | 13,102 (33.5) | 6649 (52.7) | 1498 (71.8) | 354 (75.8) | |
| No | 25,985 (66.4) | 5948 (47.1) | 587 (28.1) | 111 (23.8) | |
| Unknown4 | 47 (0.1) | 23 (0.2) | 1 (0.1) | 2 (0.4) | |
| Expecting loss of employment3 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Yes | 6893 (17.6) | 4733 (37.5) | 1191 (57.1) | 290 (62.1) | |
| No | 32,161 (82.2) | 7840 (62.1) | 890 (42.7) | 172 (36.8) | |
| Unknown | 80 (0.2) | 47 (0.4) | 5 (0.2) | 5 (1.1) | |
| Any work for pay/profit5 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Yes | 25,721 (65.7) | 7154 (56.7) | 906 (43.4) | 149 (31.9) | |
| No | 13,377 (34.2) | 5446 (43.2) | 1173 (56.2) | 315 (67.5) | |
| Unknown | 36 (0.1) | 20 (0.2) | 7 (0.3) | 3 (0.6) | |
| Employment Type6 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Government | 3238 (12.6) | 1041 (14.6) | 115 (12.7) | 22 (14.8) | |
| Private company | 14,437 (56.1) | 3959 (55.3) | 529 (58.4) | 90 (60.4) | |
| Non-profit organization | 4852 (18.9) | 1262 (17.6) | 145 (16.0) | 14 (9.4) | |
| Self-employed | 2578 (10.0) | 671 (9.4) | 70 (7.7) | 16 (10.7) | |
| Family business | 363 (1.4) | 115 (1.6) | 24 (2.7) | 4 (2.7) | |
| Unknown | 253 (1.0) | 106 (1.5) | 23 (2.5) | 3 (2.0) | |
| Main source for not working for pay/profit 7,8 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Did not want to be employed | 597 (4.5) | 102 (1.9) | 9 (0.8) | 5 (1.6) | |
| Sick with coronavirus symptoms | 99 (0.7) | 108 (1.9) | 40 (3.4) | 12 (3.8) | |
| Caring for someone with coronavirus symptoms | 23 (0.2) | 23 (0.4) | 9 (0.8) | 5 (1.6) | |
| Caring for children not in school/daycare | 588 (4.4) | 401 (7.4) | 125 (10.7) | 34 (10.8) | |
| Caring for an elderly person | 125 (0.9) | 91 (1.7) | 17 (1.5) | 9 (2.9) | |
| Concerned about getting/spreading coronavirus | 394 (3.0) | 392 (7.2) | 139 (11.9) | 41 (13.0) | |
| Retired | 6925 (51.8) | 1594 (29.3) | 107 (9.1) | 19 (6.0) | |
| Employer experienced reduction of business or furlough due to pandemic | 926 (6.9) | 542 (10.0) | 115 (9.8) | 26 (8.3) | |
| Laid off due to pandemic | 723 (5.4) | 514 (9.4) | 148 (12.6) | 34 (10.8) | |
| Employer closed temporarily during pandemic | 749 (5.6) | 521 (9.6) | 124 (10.6) | 30 (9.5) | |
| Employer went out of business during pandemic | 82 (0.6) | 81 (1.5) | 33 (2.8) | 18 (5.7) | |
| Other reason | 1680 (12.6) | 819 (15.0) | 244 (20.8) | 67 (21.3) | |
| I was concerned about getting or spreading the coronavirus | 356 (2.7) | 224 (4.1) | 59 (5.0) | 12 (3.8) | |
| Unknown | 110 (0.8) | 34 (0.6) | 4 (0.3) | 3 (1.0) | |
| Telework 9 | <0.0001 | ||||
| At least one adult substituted typical work with telework | 11,973 (59.4) | 2656 (45.7) | 282 (24.3) | 40 (13.6) | |
| No adults substituted typical work with telework | 5192 (25.7) | 2125 (36.5) | 588 (50.6) | 163 (55.3) | |
| No change in telework | 2421 (12.0) | 815 (14.0) | 231 (19.9) | 80 (27.1) | |
| Unknown | 582 (2.9) | 219 (3.8) | 61 (5.3) | 12 (4.1) | |
| FOOD ENVIRONMENT AND ACCESS | |||||
| Receiving benefits from SNAP9 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Yes | 762 (3.8) | 767 (13.3) | 400 (35.0) | 121 (41.7) | |
| No | 19,208 (95.5) | 4958 (86.1) | 733 (64.1) | 167 (57.6) | |
| Unknown | 147 (0.7) | 34 (0.6) | 11 (1.0) | 2 (0.7) | |
| Fewer trips to the grocery store due to pandemic in the last 7 days9 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Yes | 13,981 (69.3) | 4947 (85.1) | 963 (82.9) | 225 (76.3) | |
| No | 6088 (30.2) | 847 (14.6) | 182 (15.7) | 67 (22.7) | |
| Unknown | 99 (0.5) | 21 (0.4) | 17 (1.5) | 3 (1.0) | |
| People in household receive free groceries or a free meal in the last 7 days | <0.0001 | ||||
| Yes | 1500 (3.8) | 1115 (8.9) | 341 (16.5) | 83 (18.0) | |
| No | 37,497 (95.9) | 11,360 (90.7) | 1715 (82.9) | 372 (80.7) | |
| Unknown | 85 (0.2) | 56 (0.5) | 12 (0.6) | 6 (1.3) | |
| Locations where people in household received free groceries or a free meal in the last 7 days8, 10 | |||||
| Free meals through the school or other programs for children | 715 (47.7) | 498 (45.0) | 149 (44.4) | 25 (30.9) | 0.0178 |
| Food pantry or food bank | 259 (17.3) | 343 (31.0) | 121 (36.0) | 41 (50.6) | <0.0001 |
| Home delivered meal service (ex. Meals on Wheels) | 84 (5.6) | 68 (6.1) | 26 (7.7) | 8 (9.9) | 0.2429 |
| Church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or other religious organization | 92 (6.1) | 106 (9.6) | 46 (13.7) | 15 (18.5) | <0.0001 |
| Shelter or soup kitchen | 6 (0.4) | 14 (1.3) | 14 (4.2) | 8 (9.9) | <0.0001 |
| Other community program | 307 (20.5) | 232 (21.0) | 68 (20.2) | 19 (23.5) | 0.9186 |
| Family, friends, neighbors | 296 (19.8) | 267 (24.1) | 110 (32.7) | 28 (34.6) | <0.0001 |
| The children were not eating enough because we just couldn’t afford enough food in the last 7 days8, 11 | <0.0001 | ||||
| Often true | N/A | 38 (1.1) | 74 (10.0) | 64 (38.3) | |
| Sometimes true | N/A | 437 (13.2) | 383 (51.6) | 55 (32.9) | |
| Never true | N/A | 2804 (84.4) | 275 (37.1) | 46 (27.5) | |
| Unknown | N/A | 45 (1.4) | 10 (1.4) | 2 (1.2) | |
| Why did you not have enough to eat?8,12 | |||||
| Couldn't afford to buy more food | N/A | 3297 (26.3) | 1620 (78.3) | 384 (83.3) | <0.0001 |
| Couldn’t get out to buy food | N/A | 1604 (12.8) | 375 (18.1) | 105 (22.8) | <0.0001 |
| Afraid to go or didn’t want to go out to buy food | N/A | 4327 (34.5) | 501 (24.2) | 112 (24.3) | <0.0001 |
| Couldn't get groceries or meals delivered to me | N/A | 1003 (8.0) | 210 (10.2) | 69 (15.0) | <0.0001 |
| The stores didn’t have the food I wanted | N/A | 6518 (52.0) | 399 (19.3) | 84 (18.2) | <0.0001 |
Analyses were conducted using frequencies and Wald’s chi-square statistical test, significance = 0.05.
1. Descriptive analyses were conducted before data imputation. Missing values are due to missed questions in the outcome variable (i.e., food security status).
2. Definitions include: food security (enough of the kinds of food I/we wanted to eat); marginal food security (enough, but not always the kinds of food I/we wanted to eat); low food security (sometimes not enough to eat); very low food security (often not enough to eat).
3. These variables were combined in subsequent analyses to indicate “not working”.
4. Unknown responses indicate the survey respondent left the response for that question blank on the survey.
5. Respondents who answered “yes” to working for pay received the question asking for the type of work. Respondents who answered “no” to working for pay received the question asking for the main source for not working.
6. This question was only asked for people who responded that they did work for pay in the previous question.
7. This question was only asked for people who responded that they did not work for pay in the previous question.
8. This question was “select all that apply” and proportions may equal greater than 100% indicating multiple responses were selected.
9. This question was not asked in Phase 1 of the survey.
10. This question was asked only of people who reported receiving a free meal or food within the last 7 days.
11. This question was asked only of people who indicated that the children in the household could not afford enough to eat.
12. This question was not asked of people who indicated food sufficiency in the last 7 days and based on the definition of “food secure” would not have values for this question.