Home, Work, and Care Economy: A Qualitative Study of Disrupted Ecology and Family Precarity During COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to local family care services and jobs ecologies in both regional formal and informal economies. This case study of the regional economy in Michigan, USA, based on 34 in-depth interviews, explored how families struggled and adapted to find jobs and household services because of pandemic disruption. To understand the impact on families, the paper develops a multi-level ecological framework using three concepts (1) the regional care services ecology; (2) local social networks and institutions where families acquire knowledge and services; and (3) family and work-life balance. Access to social and financial capital in both the formal and informal sectors were crucial to enable families to cope but social positions such as race, type of employment, migration status, and marital status mitigated access to resources. An interdisciplinary approach captures the multi-level experiences and resilience of families, as COVID disrupted community institutions, social networks, and work.