Before the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers with less formal education, such as nursing assistants and home care aides, were more likely to experience economic insecurity—including real or perceived financial instability—compared to their more highly educated counterparts, such as physicians and nurses. To understand how the pandemic affected these workers, researchers analyzed economic insecurity during the COVID-19 period using data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (July 2021–July 2023).

This article examines how economic insecurity varies among health care workers based on their level of educational attainment.