Income Inequality

There are 13 posts filed in Income Inequality (this is page 1 of 2).

Same Credentials, Different Outcomes: Race and Homeownership in New York State

As a child in the 1950s, I lived in the New Jersey suburbs near New York City. Although the metropolitan area was racially diverse, the suburbs were not. I first lived in Wood-Ridge, a small town where none of my schoolmates were Black or Hispanic. In 1958, my family moved to Maplewood, adjacent to Newark, which had a large Black population. Yet only six of the 550 students in my high school graduating class were Black. The deed to the house my parents bought included a racial covenant, unenforceable by then but still present in the legal paperwork of suburban homeownership. Sixty-five years later, I pulled Census microdata for New York State and calculated homeownership rates by race, education, income, and metropolitan area. The results were striking: in New York State, a Black college-educated householder is still less likely to own a home than a White householder who never finished high school. Equal credentials do not produce equal outcomes.

The Continuing Racial and Ethnic Income Gap in New York and the Nation

Race has been a defining aspect of American society since Europeans came to this continent. Although racial identification reflects where people’s ancestors lived, not biological differences between people, it gained a connotation of superiority or inferiority as a justification for actions by dominant settlers of European descent to subjugate non-Europeans for economic benefit. One consequence […]

The Economic Value of College Depends upon Where You Live

College graduates enjoy a substantial income premium over those with a high school degree. In New York State, the median income in 2019 for people aged 25 or older with a Bachelor’s degree was $62,699. The median income for high school graduates was only $33,491. For those with advanced degrees, the median was $81,041. But […]

With a New Governor, New York Faces Economic Challenges

For decades, New York has had substantial disparities in economic performance. Although some parts of the State are doing relatively well, much of it has declining employment, higher levels of poverty, lower household income levels, and fewer adults working than the nation. Over most of the past decade, job growth was limited to Eastern New […]

Poverty in Upstate Metropolitan Areas: Myths and Realities

We live in an era in which long-held attitudes about race have been heightened by political campaigns that attempt to mobilize fears among white voters about minority group members and immigrants.  These appeals have ranged from claims that President Obama is a Muslim who was born in Kenya and claims that criminal undocumented immigrants endanger […]

Covid-19: The Cost in Lost Jobs

With more than 190,000 lives lost and millions infected, Covid-19 has imposed a tragic toll on residents of the United States.  New York State was hit hard early on, and has lost 32,600 residents to the disease as of early September  But strong controls that shut down much of the state’s economy for weeks during […]

The Income Gap between Men and Women: 2015 vs. 1970

Since 1970,  inflation adjusted wage income growth has been almost nonexistent – only five percent over the 45 year period ending in 2015.  Income change in metropolitan areas in New York State has differed little from the nation.  Rochester and Buffalo were two exceptions – both had lower median real wage incomes in 2015 than in […]

The Persistent Gap Between White and Black Incomes in New York

There has long been a substantial gap between the incomes of white Americans and those who describe themselves as African-American or black.  As early as 1964, with the enactment of the Civil Rights Act, the Federal and state Governments began passing laws to prevent workplace discrimination.  Has New York significantly progressed in reducing wage inequality between blacks and […]