Association between economic wellbeing and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and remoteness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heidi Green, Catherine MacPhail, Ibrahim Alananzeh and 1 others
PMID 35714669WHAT IT FOUND
Low or high socioeconomic status was linked to higher reported income loss, and outer regional living to higher reported retirement savings access, among 1211 Australian adults surveyed online.
Key findings
01Among 1211 participants, 13.7% (150) reported losing employment, 24.1% (260) reported losing income, 11.9% (142) accessed superannuation, and 24.9% (265) reported concerns about paying for services.
02Income loss was associated with higher odds in low socioeconomic status (OR 1.65; 95% CI 1.01 to 2.68) and high socioeconomic status (OR 1.63; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.51), while Caucasian (OR 0.49; 95% CI 0.27 to 0.90) and other ethnicity (OR 0.40; 95% CI 0.19 to 0.88) were reported as having higher odds of not losing income.
03Access to superannuation was associated with outer regional living (OR 3.6; 95% CI 0.81 to 16.03), middle socioeconomic status (OR 3.55; 95% CI 1.87 to 6.73), and high socioeconomic status (OR 3.42; 95% CI 1.82 to 6.42), and financial inability to pay was associated with remote living (OR 2.26; 95% CI 0.88 to 5.80).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Participants were recruited through social media, so people without internet or social media, including older or financially insecure Australians, may have been missed. The survey was online and self-administered, so answers were not checked and responder bias is possible. Most participants were female and most were Caucasian, so findings may not apply evenly to men or other ethnic groups. People who felt impacted by the pandemic may have been more likely to respond. Only people who could read English were eligible. Missing data were about 5% and were not imputed.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these rates as representative of all Australians. Participants were recruited through social media, and the sample was mostly female and mostly Caucasian.