Wealth gap widening between Black and White Americans

The wealth gap between White and Black Americans has widened during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an article published on The Hill on Tuesday.

According to reasearchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the White-to-Black per capita wealth ratio was 6:1 in 2019, which means Black Americans hold 17 cents on average to one dollar held by a White American, the author argues in the article. Black Americans earn 50 cents less than every dollar White Americans do.

"The top 0.01 percent of households now own 36.1 percent of private wealth," researchers wrote. "Given that there are so few Black households at the top of the wealth distribution, faster growth in wealth at the top will lead to further increases in racial wealth inequality."

During the pandemic, the wealth concentration reached its highest levels since World War II, widening the racial wealth gap, according to researchers.

The author said Black Americans faced pervasive barriers to Black economic progress in the post-Reconstructions era such as being excluded from political process, discriminated in land and labor markets and other historical discriminatory practices, which has led to the disparities seen today.

In 2020, the wealth gap was virtually identical to that seen in 1950, the author said.

A new study published on the Social Science & Medicine found evidence that childhood income inequality is associated with worse health in adulthood, which partially explains the adverse health trends experienced by Baby Boomers and younger cohorts in the United States.