The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a range of challenges to workers in America. Essential workers have been left without basic protections while others struggle with care responsibilities working from home. Unprecedented millions have become unemployed while others face long hours providing needed services.

Now is the moment to design a system that allows all workers and their families to achieve financial security. Join us for a discussion on what employers, the public sector, and people across the country can do to build an inclusive future of work.

Nearly 50 million Americans – disproportionately, people of color — do not have access to a retirement savings account at work.  And for millions who do have access to a workplace retirement savings account, their 401(k) is their only form of savings.

The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 is forcing many to ask critical questions about the retirement savings system in the US.  Why doesn’t every American have access to a tax-advantaged savings account to invest and grow their money?  What amount of liquidity is the right amount– for emergencies both big and small? How do we create accessible retirement benefits — regardless of who people are, where they work, or how much they get paid?

While emergency savings offer a financial lifeline for households to cope with the unexpected, 28% of U.S. adults had no emergency savings going into the COVID-19 crisis.  The crisis has hit certain populations particularly hard: only about a third or fewer of Black and Hispanic adults, those younger than 30, and those with no college experience say they have a rainy day fund to cover three month’s worth of expenses.

To help families recover from crises — and to build long-term resilience for future ones – policymakers, employers, and financial services institutions need to implement tools that make emergency savings accessible and automatic.  Join us as we discuss lessons from behavioral economics, applications in government and financial services, and the realities of financial decision-making at the household level.  What emergency savings tools to enable people across America to cope during this economic recovery – and create a stable, equitable savings system that can weather the next one?

Leading up to COVID-19, one in seven people in America were caring for children, adults, and elders. Today, the global pandemic has left many childcare providers and domestic workers without income, and it has also resulted in some having to make tough decisions about caring for others while putting their own health at risk.  In short, the coronavirus has exposed just how fragile the financial security of care workers – disproportionately black and brown women – actually is.

In a typical year, it is estimated that US households lose $31.9 billion in wages due to a lack of child care, paid leave, disability leave, and care giving leave. If this invisible sector is the backbone of our economy – what are businesses and policymakers doing to build a better system?  How can we re-imagine a world in which care is treated as a public good – because we all reap the benefits of better care for our children, our elderly, and people with disabilities.

Before COVID-19, consumer debt in America was at an all-time high of over $14 trillion– exceeding 2008 debt levels in real terms– according to the New York Federal Reserve. During and after COVID-19, the unprecedented levels of unemployment will leave millions more in delinquency or default on their debt – and, potentially, bankrupt.

The good news is that some cities and states are acting to alleviate the burdens of government fines and fees, and limit collections actions during a time people need their stimulus payments to meet day-to-day needs. But what will happen when these alleviation actions end? What about consumer protections for the vast amounts of non-governmental debt? Will forgiving debt really build wealth equitably and support economic recovery?

More than 40 million Americans have outstanding student loan balances – totaling over $1.5 trillion.  The CARES Act provided temporary relief to borrowers, but payments will come due once again on *October 1—six months into the COVID-19 health crisis and its economic ramifications.

What role does student loan debt relief play in our nation’s economic recovery?  The CARES Act has signaled that policymakers understand that borrowers need relief to reduce household expenses – and that it could free people up to seek education or training they will need in a transformed economy.  How should we make decisions about who would benefit most, what cancellation priorities would look like, and how to design student loan cancellation that gives the economy the biggest possible boost?

The CARES Act’s provision to send $1,200 to people marks a notable shift in political willingness to give people money – and it refuted long-held skepticism about whether low-income people know what’s best in how to spend their money.  Does the CARES Act reflect only the extreme needs of the moment? Or are we entering a new era of increased agreement about the importance of money as a foundational support?

This event highlighted various ways policymakers, funders, nonprofits, and business leaders are proposing getting more money into the hands of people and why they believe that approach is essential to the financial security of families– both now and beyond this crisis.

In January, the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program published a paper outlining the housing affordability and stability crisis that approximately 100 million Americans faced. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans are now facing the most acute jobs crisis since the Great Depression. As a result, millions of us are suddenly unable to make rent or mortgage payments.

There is hope. Policymakers, businesses, and non-profits are prioritizing this issue like never before — and we can implement solutions that will put our communities on a path build a stronger system of affordable, high-quality housing across the country.

The economic damage of COVID-19 has led millions of Americans to seek assistance from the safety net, which has exposed both the existing flaws in the public benefits system and the new challenges in serving a massive influx of people. What is it like to navigate this crush as both applicant and service provider? What are we learning about technology and policy that will help us rebuild a benefits system for this moment and the rest of the 21st Century?

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, along with experts working on the design and delivery of safety net services, engaged in a robust conversation about the system we have and the system we should be designing.

The financial challenges for American households didn’t start with COVID-19 – and they won’t end with the $2 trillion stimulus package. Ida Rademacher and Joanna Smith-Ramani explore the state of U.S. households coming into 2020 – and what policymakers, funders and philanthropists, and business leaders need to know about household financial security if we’re going to design solutions to get households out of this economic crisis and put the country back on track.