When we compare the full-employment job market of the late 1990s, with the weaker job market in the 2000s, we can see that the income gap between African-American families and white families is increasing.
In 1995, the median income of African-American families was 60.9% of that of white families.
By 2000, when the unemployment rate fell to 4.0%, the ratio improved to 63.5% , which is the highest level on record since 1947.
But by 2004, as the economy deteriorated , African-American families had a median income that was 62% of typical white families. If the unemployment rate hadn’t been further rising, the income ratio would have been 63.9%. Unless the labor market returns to the very favorable conditions of the latter 1990s, racial income gaps are likely to widen further.
Lisa Luyckx
http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/webfeatures_snapshots_20060705/
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