Politicians and economists are calling the recovery “k-shaped,” a recently created term that means prosperity is returning more rapidly for some Americans as many others struggle to get by. The terminology might be new, but America’s economy has always been shaped that way.
Although both White and Black homeownership has increased marginally over the past few years, oscillating in a narrow range since 2016, the gap between them hasn’t narrowed perceptibly.
And even as the jobless rate fell to a historically low 3.5% right before the Covid-19 pandemic, Black and Hispanic workers still faced much higher rates of unemployment, and women were more likely than men to hold multiple jobs, often working part-time as well.
Before the pandemic, the US economy recorded more than a decade of growth — its longest expansion in history. But wages only really began to rise appreciably toward the end of this expansion, helped in part by increases in the minimum wage, said Kate Bahn, economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, told CNN Business last month. The last time the federal minimum wage rose was in 2009, although some states have increased it since.
Wage inequality has been rising since the late 1970s in America, as the post-war economic growth burst slowed down. Since the turn of the millennium, wage growth has been strongest for higher-wage earners, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Then came the pandemic, which hit the weakest groups in the US economy especially hard.
Lower-paid workers, minority communities and women accounted for many of the workers in sectors most affected by lockdown measures. As of December, the jobless rates for Black and Hispanic workers were still far higher than the 6.7% national average — at 9.9% and 9.3%, respectively. In fact, this trend has held true since the government started compiling jobs data by race.
The Biden administration acknowledges the disparities between different groups in America’s economy. But it remains to be seen whether it can break this inequitable, decades-long trend.
Go to the news source: America’s K-shaped economy has been 50 years in the making
