There are around 83 million hourly employees in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This segment represents approximately 58% of all wage earners. It is also the segment of employees that are least likely to have paid sick days or the opportunity to work from home, and losing their jobs in mass layoffs may mean they'll struggle more than other segments.

Data from our recent Covid-19 survey shows that hourly employees have already been impacted significantly due to the crisis. Roughly, 20% of hourly employees have lost their jobs already, and another 42% have seen their hours decrease significantly. As one would expect, these numbers are considerably higher for employees in the retail, accommodation/food services, education, entertainment, and transportation segments.

When asked about their finances, 40% of hourly employees stated they could only last a month with a significant income loss. This is roughly three times higher than the salary employees.

The next few months probably aren't going to be easy. We don't know how long this will continue, or how long it will take our economy to return to where it was before COVID-19. One thing is clear. We will all be affected by this- some more than others.