Nine facts about the racial wealth gap

EXPERTS SAY BLACK HOUSEHOLDS CONTINUE TO FACE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, BURDENING STUDENT DEBT, AND LOW WAGES. CREDIT:& GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO by& Bria Overs For New Pittsburgh Courier Five hundred years. That’s how long experts say it would take for Black people to reach& economic parity& with White people and close the racial wealth gap, given current trajectories. That’s 100 years longer than slavery existed in the U.S. In fact, it’s longer than the U.S. has been a country. And it’s about six times the lifespan of an average Black person.& Economists and researchers from the& Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago& shared findings in a webinar earlier this month on where Black Americans stand compared to other racial and ethnic groups since 2019. While acknowledging Black people have made gains in recent decades, they also identified a series of disparities that keep them from gaining financial ground with Whites — including higher rates of unemployment, lower rates of home ownership and wages, regardless of education.& & The experts point to a total of nine factors directly affecting the racial wealth gap. Here’s what they found.& Minorities have more wealth than ever, but not enough to shrink the racial wealth gap Data from the&...