The Astonishing Collapse of Black and Latino Household Wealth

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/black-and-latino-household-wealth-has-collapsed



Despite growing economic inequality and mass unemployment, Washington is focused on austerity. Politicians and pundits debate how much to cut and how much revenue to raise rather than creating jobs or alleviating the suffering of millions of people. What also gets lost in the dominant discourse about the economy is the suffering of the black community. The Great Recession has increased racial inequality and set back the modest socioeconomic gains of the civil rights movement.

Recently, the Urban Institute released a study on the racial wealth gap titled "Less Than Equal: Racial Disparities in Wealth Accumulation." The study found that, while the racial wealth gap has existed for decades, it's drastically expanded during the last 30 years. It says the "average wealth of white families was $230,000 higher than the wealth of black and Hispanic families in 1983." In that year, white families had an average wealth of nearly $300,000 in 2010 dollars. Wealth for all families increased, but not evenly.

The 2007-2009 recession devastated the American economy and all families suffered decreasing wealth. However, African American and Latino families were hit the hardest. According to the study, "between 2007 and 2010, Hispanic families saw their wealth cut by over 40 percent, and black families saw their wealth fall by 31 percent." In comparison, white family wealth "fell by 11 percent."

The average wealth of white families, in 2010, was $632,000 but $110,000 for Latino families and $98,000 for African American families -- a wealth gap of over half a million dollars. Median wealth shows the same trend: $91,000 for white families versus $10,000 for Latinos and $11,000 for African Americans in 1983; for 2010, it's $124,000 for white families, $15,000 for Latino families, and $16,000 for African American families. These are all in 2010 dollars. Therefore, between 1983 and 2010, the racial wealth gap nearly tripled.

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[marmar]

2. k/r