(NewsNation) — The wealth gap between white and Black Americans is more like a gulf, according to new data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Researchers examined Census data and early state tax records over a span of 160 years dating back to 1860. The study found that in 2019, the white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio was 6 to 1, equal to Black Americans holding 17 cents on average for every white dollar of wealth, The Hill reported.
In addition, Black Americans earned an average of 50 cents for every dollar white Americans earn. The gap in 2020 was nearly identical to the gap in 1950.
There’s a chance that you haven’t heard about this story. No right-leaning outlets have reported on the topic, according to NewsNation partner Ground News’ Blindspot report. Fifty percent of outlets that reported on this issue were left-leaning and the other 50% were outlets aligned in the center of the political spectrum.
Researchers created a model excluding all other obstacles Black Americans faced with regard to personal wealth gain, The Hill reported. Their goal was to determine if equal wealth accumulation were possible following emancipation in the absence of known barriers. The results showed a slower path to wealth equality throughout the 150 years since the end of slavery.
Until now, understanding of racial wealth differences relied on limited “snapshots” that focused
on more specific places and times or examined only recent decades when the gap’s change was unremarkable, according to the report.
Wealth concentration increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and reached its highest levels since World War II, according to the report. The top 0.01% of households now own 36.1% of private wealth, it stated.
“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,” researchers wrote.
This story is part of NewsNation’s new “Blindspot” initiative in partnership with Ground News to provide readers with contextual, unbiased news they may not find covered by every media outlet.