|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Blacks Have Yet to Catch Up
| Article
# : |
22880 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
2 / 2003 |
2,730 Words |
| Author
: |
John A. Foster-Bey
John A. Foster-Bey is senior associate and director of the
Program on Regional Economic Opportunity at the Urban
Institute. He has researched and written on economic
development, workforce development, and race, poverty, and
inequality. |
According to Stanford law professor John J. Donohue and University of Chicago economist James Heckman, economic progress for black Americans has been a process of episodic change rather than continuous advancement. From 1890 through the 1930s, blacks experienced little economic improvement. Any change was attributable to their migrating from low-paying agricultural jobs in the South to higher-paying industrial jobs in northern cities. During World War II, tight labor markets improved their access to better jobs. As a result, black income rose during this period.
During the postwar era of the 1950s to mid-'60s, blacks saw little economic progress. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, from the mid-1960s through the mid-'70s, they experienced substantial improvements. The mid-1970s through the 1980s was a period of economic stagnation.
In a 1998 article in the New Republic, Glen Loury, a Boston University economist, points out that even during the boom of the 1990s, compared to whites, blacks continued to have disproportionately high unemployment and poverty rates, as well as much lower family income and rates of household wealth. Other observers argue, however, that blacks have enjoyed significant improvements in both absolute and relative economic status. An April 2002 Wall Street Journal article quotes Harvard University demographer Edward Glaeser, who suggests that "sociologists have somehow managed to blind themselves to the fact that there were changes for the better, and in terms of historical trends there were big changes." According to Glaeser, black poverty has declined substantially over the last 20 years, while household income has increased and educational attainment has improved dramatically.
Who is right? Has black economic progress come to a halt, or have there been noticeable changes? It depends on how one interprets the data.
For those who argue that blacks have made real progress, the focus is on historical trends over long periods. Those who believe progress has been modest compare blacks and whites at a given point, such as the 2000 Census, or examine trends in economic data over relatively short spans.
Poverty
A major indicator of economic progress is the poverty rate. Between 1990 and 2000, the proportion of blacks residing in households with incomes below the poverty level declined by 15 percent. While this was the largest
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
