The Best Black Economy in Generations – And Why It Isn’t Enough

By Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Algernon Austin

Black Americans are experiencing the most positive economic conditions in generations: Record low unemployment rates, record low poverty rates, along with record high income levels and new heights of wealth. With these data points, one could easily assume African Americans are experiencing broad prosperity. Yet deeper investigation reveals that despite record breaking economic numbers, African Americans are still mired in great economic insecurity. This ongoing economic challenge is reflected in their low opinion of the economy, widespread asset poverty, and ongoing Black/white economic inequality.

The best Black economy in generations isn’t enough when on the horizon is near never-ending inequality and insecurity. As the nation goes through a historic election that could have long-term ramifications on the country’s political direction, it is clear that African American voters continue to place economic issues at the core of their concerns, versus the social issues that often dominate the headlines.

This brief by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies highlights the reality of the African American economic condition and the leading concerns of the African American community. If the nation is to get past its history of racial inequality, it must build on the areas of recent progress for African Americans. Even as the country faces a backlash around issues titled “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the reality is that without a strong, targeted approach to increase economic advancement for African Americans, Black people will continue to be economic second-class citizens. This brief explores this complex dynamic of economic advancement amidst continuing inequality, and how African Americans express a mix of economic pessimism, optimism, realism, and hope about their prospects in the U.S. economy.

Report Highlights:

The Strongest Black Economy

• From 1972 to 2022, the annual Black unemployment rate averaged 11.6 percent. In 2023, it was 5.5 percent – about half the prior average and a record low rate.
• In 2023, the annual Black unemployment rate was 1.7 times the white rate. The average from 1972 to 2022 was 2.1 times, showing a bridging of the Black/white unemployment gap that needs to be built on.
• The Black annual prime-age employment rate is at a record high. For the first half of 2024, it has averaged 78 percent, slightly above the 77.6 percent for all of 2023.
• Black median household income is at its highest point in a generation. Since 2011, Black median household income has grown from about $41,000 to almost $53,000 in 2022, a nearly 30 percent increase.
• From 1959 to 1970, Black poverty declined from 55 percent to below 35 percent. The Black poverty rate stayed above 30 percent until 1994. The Black Official Poverty Measure (OPM) rate has been below 20 percent for the past four years.
• Median Black wealth or net worth (assets minus debts) has reached a new high. In 2022, median Black household wealth reached nearly $45,000, more than double the post Great Recession low of about $17,000 seen in 2013.
• Why Today’s Black Economy is Not Enough
• In 2023, over 1.4 million more Black people would need to be working to match the employment rates of white people. This joblessness cost Black America roughly $60 billion.
• Black median income is nearly $30,000 lower than the white median, and still below the white median income of 1972.
• At about $45,000, Black median wealth keeps a large majority of African Americans substantially distant from the $190,000 estimated to be the lower limit of middle class wealth.
• As noted in the 2023 report “Still A Dream: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equality,” with all of the advances made since 1960, the nation is still moving at a glacial pace when it comes to bridging Black/white inequality. If the country continues at the current rate, it would take over 500 years to bridge Black/white income inequality, and nearly 800 years to bridge Black/white wealth inequality.

Read the report here.