94% Of Parents Say Child Tax Credit Payments Allow Them To Work More, Study Shows

The vast majority of parents receiving monthly child tax credit payments say that they plan to keep working or even increase their hours as a result of them, a study released Thursday shows.

Ninety-four percent of parents said that the payments, which began in July, allowed them to work the same amount or more, a joint study from the Washington University in St. Louis, UNC-Greensboro, Appalachian State, the Urban Institute and Humanity Forward shows. Just 6.4% receiving the payments said they would work less or change jobs, and of those a majority were parents with infants or toddlers.

The payments, passed in March as a part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, allot monthly payments of $3,600 and $3,000 for each child under six and from ages six to 17, respectively. The payments slowly begin to phase out for couples making over $150,000 and singles making over $112,500. (RELATED: Who’s Eligible For The Child Tax Credit, And How Much Could They Get?)

But while the payments passed on a party-line vote, their future remains uncertain beyond July 2022, when they are set to expire. And some moderate Democrats, like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, have opposed the extensions without adding a work requirement. His position is part of the reason Democrats’ sweeping social safety package, which contains the bulk of Biden’s domestic agenda, hit snags in Congress. (RELATED: Americans Support Monthly Child Tax Credit Payments. Why Don’t Congressional Republicans?)

The study also found that the payments could facilitate entrepreneurship. Over 20% of the survey’s 1,514 respondents said they either had their own business or were planning to start one.

In addition to helping parents work more, most respondents said they planned to use the payments for emergency savings, routine expenses and essential items. Over 40% said that they would also use it to buy higher quality food, start a college fund or pay for their kids’ extracurriculars.

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