The racial divide in the USA

As explained in this article, a report released this week by Brandeis University in Massachusetts reveals that a typical white American family is now five times richer than its African-American counterpart of the same class.

White families typically have assets worth $100,000 (£69,000), up from $22,000 in the mid-1980s. African-American families’ assets stand at just $5,000, up from around $2,000.

This racial divide is part of a wider economic divide. Today, the richest 1% of the US population owns close to 40% of its wealth. The top 25% of US households own 87%.

Arguably the best way of measuring income inequality is through the Gini coefficient.  On this measure, the USA scores 40. 8 as set out here. This  is an even higher value of the coefficient than that for the UK which is 36 – that is, income inequality is even sharper

However, as well as the current level of the Gini coefficient, one needs to look at the change in the coefficient. In both the USA and the UK, the figure is rising (that is, inequality is increasing) but, in the States, the rate is growing even faster than in the UK as illustrated here.


 




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