The White Get Richer

The financial advantages of being white in American get better by the year. That is the conclusion of a new study from the Pew Research Center. Blacks and Hispanics have not enjoyed the same success.

“The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households,” the study reports. Many may be surprised that the gap has widened over time. Pew looked at government data that goes back almost 25 years. The collapse of the housing market was harder on blacks and Hispanics. “From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households,” was one of the conclusions of the report.

The release of the report bursts another bubble among the assumptions that women and minorities have made major strides in economic and job parity. Among women, the ratio of earnings in the same jobs as those held by men is 70%. Women continue to be under-represented in management and on boards. These facts persist despite the perceived advances of the women’s movement and the number of women in colleges, business, and professional schools.

The situation of blacks and Hispanics could be called even worse than that of women. Equity in society has to be based to some extent on economic advances. Improvement in net worth and job opportunities are critical to asset ownership and buying power, whether that is represented by home ownership or the ability to send children to college. Part of the wealth gap has to be assigned to job opportunities. Pew did not point to the fact that black unemployment was over 16% in June. Among black youth, the figure was 41%. Advancement in net worth is virtually impossible when the jobless data for any single group is that grim.

It was probably naive to think advancements brought by the civil rights and women’s movements of the last 40 years would translate into economic gains. And that is the tragedy of it. Economic power tends to perpetuate itself. Those who have jobs give opportunities to those most like themselves. That is plain from the numbers, which really have no other explanation. Women do not reap advantages of better educations and access to better jobs; often, it is no more than access. Blacks and Hispanics face the same difficulty. Civil rights did not translate into economic benefit, if Pew is right. And, it is, as far as any other legitimate look at the economy is concerned.

Douglas A. McIntyre