Many black people have lost their wealth in the recession.
July 10, 2011- Millions of Americans across the country have endured many financial problems during the recession. That struggle continues in the black community as they are enduring even more hardship as unemployment numbers continue to rise since the recession ended. Job loss has knocked many from middle class back to poverty.
The Great Recession, say economists, was from 2007 to 2009 with the median white household net worth at $134,000 compared to that of black households at $13,500, this data came from the Economic Policy Institute analyzed from the Federal Reserve.
By the end of the recession the median net worth had fallen to $97,800 in white households or a 24% decrease and for black households had fallen to $2,100 or an 83% drop. This equated to for every one dollar of wealth a white household had a black household had only two cents of wealth.
Overall employment since the recession has dropped from 9.4% to 9.1%, while the rated for unemployed blacks has increased from 14.7% to 16.2% says the Department of Labor. This past Maymarked the lowest level that male black employment has been at since data was first tracked in 1972. Just 56% of black males older than 20 were employed compared to white men in the same age group where the rate was 68%.
