The role of social transfers in mitigating families with children from the economic impact of the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Abstract In this study, we investigated the household income of families with children. Our specific interest was the earned income losses during the COVID‐19 pandemic, and how social transfers have mitigated those losses. We assessed the monthly income levels by comparing the information on the year prior to pandemic to income levels during COVID‐19 pandemic. We found that the pandemic affected all studied subgroups of families with children, with the most negative economic influence in May 2020. In addition, our results indicate that in Finland the social transfers protected fairly well against the negative economic impacts of the pandemic among families with children, especially among vulnerable families (those with lowest income level prior COVID‐19, with low parental education, single‐parent families and families with non‐Finnish‐born parents). The information gained from this analysis can be useful in economic recovery during and after COVID‐19 pandemic, and when preparing for future challenges.