America Becoming Racial Trends and Their Consequences: Volume I (2001) / Chapter Skim
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2. An Overview of Trends in Social and Economic Well-Being, by Race
2. An Overview of Trends in Social and Economic Well-Being, by Race
Pages 21-39
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From page 21... ...
INTRODUCTION In general, there are many signs of improvement across all racial and ethnic groups in a wide variety of measures of well-being, such as educational achievement, health status, and housing quality. In some cases, disparities between different racial groups have narrowed, as all groups have experienced improvements.
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From page 22... ...
Wherever possible, trends over time are presented for key variables, focusing on five major population groups: non-Hispanic Whites, nonHispanic Blacks, Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaska Natives. These data are taken almost entirely from U.S.
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From page 23... ...
51.5 61.8 91.9 57.6 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Percent of total regional population FIGURE 2-1 Minority population by region, 1995. Data for Asians exclude Hispanic Asians, and data for American Indians exclude Hispanic American Indians.
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From page 24... ...
Data for 1996 are not available for American Indians. SOURCE: Council of Economic Advisers (1998~.
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From page 25... ...
All groups show significant increases in the number of people living alone or in single-parent families between 1970 and 1996, but the percentage living in single-parent families is much larger among Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians and Alaska Natives. In fact, the biggest recent percentage increases are in single-father families, rather than singlemother families, although single-father families continue to be a small percentage of all families.
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From page 26... ...
The more stagnant educational trends among Hispanics reflect, in part, the growing immigrant percentage of that population. Immigrants are less likely to hold high school or college degrees.
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From page 27... ...
The chart shows rapidly increasing convergence in labor-force participation rates, as men's rates have slowly decreased while women's rates have increased steadily. White women, who used to be much less likely to work than Black women, are now just as likely to be in the labor force.
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From page 28... ...
A major question for the Hispanic population is whether adult women will show rapid increases in labor-force participation, to the level of women from other groups. Such changes in women's labor-market involvement not only mean changes in the economic base of families and probably in the economic security and decision-making power of husbands versus wives but may also mean substantial changes in family functioning and in child-rearing practices.
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From page 29... ...
Straight line between dots indicates data are not available for intervening years. Prior to 1979, data for Blacks include all non-Whites.
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From page 30... ...
EC O N O MIC STATUS Continued and even growing gaps in earnings imply that the economic situation is not improving for minority populations relative to the White population. Other measures of family economic well-being reinforce this conclusion.
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From page 31... ...
This means that income differentials have widened between Whites and Asian and Pacific Islanders on the upper end of the income brackets and Blacks and Hispanics on the lower end. American Indians and Alaska Natives, for whom we only have data from the 1990 Census, show lower income than Blacks in that year.
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From page 32... ...
Asian and Pacific Islanders show a slightly higher poverty rate, underscoring the diversity within the Asian and Pacific Islander populations they have both higher median incomes than Whites as well as higher poverty rates, reflecting the fact that at least some Asian groups are experiencing economic difficulties. Black poverty has also been relatively constant, but at nearly 30 percent three times the White poverty rate.
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From page 33... ...
There are very large differences in death rates by cause among different racial groups. American Indians and Alaska Natives are far more likely to die as a result of unintentional injuries typically auto
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The homicide victimization rate of Blacks is more than twice that of Hispanics and six times that of non-Hispanic Whites and Asian and Pacific Islanders. American Indian and Alaska Native homicide rates are about
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From page 35... ...
Some of these differences reflect differences in the crimes for which Blacks are disproportionately arrested, and some may reflect discriminatory behavior on the part of police and other persons within the criminal justice system. In 1995, more than 9 percent of the Black population was under correctional supervision, either on probation or parole, or in jail or prison, compared to 2 percent of the White population.
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From page 36... ...
All groups for which we have data, from the mid-1970s to the mid-199Os, show substantial improvement in housing quality; but, as in other areas, large disparities remain across groups. Non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians and Alaska Natives are far more likely to live in substandard housing than are Whites or 302520t' 15ILL Moderate problems 105o Severe problems 1976-78 1993-95 1976-78 1993-95 White, Black, Hispanic non-Hispanic non-Hispanic 1976-78 1993-95 1993-95 1993-95 Asian American Indian FIGURE 2-13 Housing units with physical problems.
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From page 37... ...
The botOverall population composition Total population Non-Hispanic Whites Non-Hispanic Blacks Hispanics Asians Average neighborhood composition for each group 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent White, non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic Hispanic Asian American Indian FIGURE 2-14 Average racial and ethnic composition of metropolitan neighborhoods, 1990. Data for Asians exclude Hispanic Asians, and data for American Indians exclude Hispanic American Indians.
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From page 38... ...
The Hispanic population fares even worse. Although we do not have as much comparable information for American Indians and Alaska Natives, their data tend to be closer to those of Blacks and Hispanics than to those of Whites.
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From page 39... ...
The chapters that follow look beneath the averages and the aggregate snapshots and disclose a nuanced sense of how and why racial differentials continue to exist, and how they have been influenced by policy choices. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The opinions expressed in this paper reflect the personal views of the author and not the official position of the Council of Economic Advisers.
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