Black people Income Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Black people Income - Research Paper Example Also, wealth is critical in enabling families to weather emergencies and move along a path of long-term financial opportunity and security. As such, extreme wealth inequality especially between races implies that a disadvantaged race will be unable to benefit from opportunities associated with wealth and this will hamper the community’s economic growth and that of the nation as a whole (Institute on Assets and Social Policy 1). Statistics by government agencies and non-government agencies show that there is a huge wealth inequality between black people compared to the white people in the United States. This research paper will discuss this inequality and why this inequality exists and what are the possible ways of closing the racial income gap. Statistics on Racial Income Inequality The black people in the United States continue to earn far less income compared to the white people. According to the statistics released by the United States Census Bureau, per-capita income of th e black people in 2008 was $18,054, which was just 57.9 percent that of the white people which stood at $28,502. While this was a slight improvement over the 56.4 percent reported in 2007, it was down the 2005 statistics which as 59.3 percent (Christie para 1). The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics also indicate that the white people earn a median of $756 per week, which is 25 percent more compared to the black people who earn $607 weekly. In 2011, available data indicate that the median income for the black households was approximately $32,000. This amount was 61.7 percent of the median income of white households in the same year. What is more worrying is the fact that this was about the same percentage in 1970 which stood at 60.9 percent. This implies that there has been virtually no change in regard to income between the whites and the backs (Institute on Assets and Social Policy 5). This lack of notable change comes as a surprise considering that there have been visible i ndicators about the improvement of black people income situation. Factors or Causes of the Income Inequality between the Black People and White People Numerous studies have found out that there are a significant number of causes or factors contributing to low income among the blacks compared to the whites. It has been found out there are contemporary and historical causes that have resulted to this situation (Barsky, Bound, Charles and Lupton 663). The situation of income disparity is further compounded by the fact there us a very unequal income distribution among black households; it is even more unequal compared to the income distribution among white households. It should be noted that there some black people who earn pretty high income, even higher income than some of the top white households. This can be attributed to the benefits they have obtained in the recent years (Oliver and Shapiro 78). However, extremely large black population segment earn very low incomes. The weakening of labor unions and the long-term minimum wage reduction are some of the factors that have harmed the income of many black people. Other factors such as mass incarceration of black men, as well as the consequent exclusion from mainstream economy have significantly hampered black