Charitable organizations supporting low-income families are gearing up for high demand in the coming months.
The Salvation Army expects a 155% increase in the number of people needing Christmas assistance this year, and it launched a campaign this month to increase donations. Toys for Tots, a program run by the U.S. Marine Corps to help children in need during the holidays, also expects a significant rise in families seeking assistance, according to Ted Silvester, the organization’s vice president of marketing and development.
The uneven impacts of the pandemic recession are showing up in traditional shopping channels as well.
Jeff Gennette, chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc., said in an interview this month that he’s seeing a “bifurcation” among customers, with some seeking out discounts at the same time that demand for luxury goods is coming back.
Lululemon Athletica Inc., the retail chain known for its $98 yoga pants, is ramping up marketing investments to appeal to those customers with more money to spend this holiday season.
“People have more disposable income as a result of not being able to eat out and travel as much,” said Chief Executive Officer Calvin McDonald. Still, he acknowledged that “there are economic constraints on a large percentage of the population.”
While the poverty rate fell last year to 10.5%, the lowest in data back to 1959, economic inequality in America continued to widen even before the pandemic, whether measured by income or wealth, Pew said in a January report. And that’s likely to impact racial minorities disproportionately, with the majority of Americans living below the poverty line being people of color.
“The United States was already deeply unequal prior to the start of this crisis,” said Zach Parolin, a researcher with the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. “What the pandemic has done -- and the economic crisis associated with it -- has been to reveal and exacerbate those inequalities.”
--With assistance from Kim Bhasin.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.