Throughout the Summer of 2020, everyone from politicians to financial institutions to your neighbor with an “In This House We...” sign on their lawn — pledged to do better by Black Americans. The big banks even offered to cough up billions of dollars to promote racial equity.
But four years later, are things any fairer?
According to a new report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank, not only did things not get better, but wealth inequality actually got worse.
The report found that white Americans’ net worth grew by 30 percent, far outpacing that of Black and Hispanic Americans, which only grew by 9 percent from 2019 to 2023.
It’s not all bad news for Black Americans. Black unemployment is at an all-time low, and wages have gone somewhat up for Black full-time workers. However, the financial conditions of the pandemic world benefited white Americans far more than they did Black Americans.
The answer proposed by the report is rather straightforward. For a ton of systemic reasons, white Americans are more likely to hold financial assets that shot up during the pandemic, including stocks and bonds. Black Americans on the other-hand were more likely to have their money in pensions, which declined in value.
So while wealthier white Americans got richer, Black Americans’ wealth stagnated in comparison.
Industries with higher rates of Black ownership were also disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, meaning many Black business owners suffered losses that outpaced their white counterparts.
If you’ve been paying attention, this isn’t exactly surprising information. Black Americans have historically been shut out of wealth building opportunities, such as home ownership, and are less likely to be able to pass down an inheritance to their children. But given how much fanfare there was about ushering in a more equitable society, this type of report is rather disappointing.