This, along with the coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately killed black Americans, has drawn renewed attention to the persistent inequities in wealth, health and opportunity between blacks and whites despite economic prosperity of recent years.Those disparities exist because of a long history of policies that excluded and exploited black Americans, said Valerie Wilson, director of the program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning group. "Racial inequality has become so normalized in this society," she said. "It's what we expect to see. That's the way it's been for so long."The numbers are staggering. The typical non-Hispanic black household has accumulated only about one-tenth the wealth of a typical non-Hispanic white family. That gap stems in part from lower rates of home ownership and smaller inheritances among blacks. The difference is wider now than it was at the start of the century, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution. And wealth is all the more important these days since it serves as a safety net during economic downturns. Another reason why it's more difficult for black families to save and build wealth is because they typically earn less than whites. Since 2000, the wage gap between blacks and non-Hispanic whites has grown significantly, even when educational attainment is factored in, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. Black workers' wages grew slowly from 2000 until last year, when they finally exceeded 2000 and 2007 levels across the earnings spectrum.Median household income among blacks is also lower than it is for non-Hispanic whites.
Unemployment
One area that has improved is the gap in unemployment rates. For decades, the jobless rate for blacks was typically more than twice that for whites, but the gap narrowed to its smallest differential on record last year — that is, until the coronavirus outbreak. In February, the rates stood at 3.1% for whites and a near record low of 5.8% for blacks. The economic downturn triggered by the pandemic has actually narrowed the gap even more since unemployment has spiked so dramatically across all races. Also, black Americans make up a disproportionate share of essential employees, including those who work in public transit, trucking, warehouse and postal service, health care and grocery, convenience and drug stores, according to a Center for Economic and Policy Research report — which has meant many people have kept their jobs, but at the risk of falling ill. In April, the unemployment rate for black workers soared to 16.7%, the highest since early 2010, but it was a record 14.2% for white workers. Typically, in recessions, the unemployment rate gap widens. The nation's poverty rate of 11.8% in 2018 was significantly lower for the first time since 2007, before the Great Recession, accoRead More – Source
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