March 2020–2021
Legislation / economic reliefSupplement
CARES Act and PPP expose unequal access to emergency business aid
United States
The CARES Act created the Paycheck Protection Program during COVID-19. GAO found that early lending favored larger and rural businesses; later changes improved access for smaller firms and underserved locations. Banking access and incomplete demographic reporting complicated assessment of racial equity.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
County demographics are not the race of individual business owners. GAO’s geographic findings do not establish a single national white/nonwhite borrower split. Program rules and lender participation changed across funding rounds.