Thursday, October 18, 2018

Join the Union

African-Americans, have about one-tenth the wealth of whites. This massive inequality leaves larger shares of the African-American as well as Latinx and Asian-American populations worse prepared for retirement than is the case for whites.

 Data show that racial wealth is much smaller among union members than non-union members, although it is still substantial.

 Take the example of African-Americans. Among union members, whites had a little over five times the median wealth of African-Americans between 2010 and 2016. This is a large difference, but a far cry from the overall gap of ten-to-one. 

And it is a lot better than the wealth gap among non-union members, where whites had 37 times as much as African-Americans did. The data show similar differences for Latinos. Among union members, whites had almost four times as much wealth as Latinos did, but among non-union members, they had 28 times as much. And finally, the wealth gap also shrinks among those, who self-identify as “other” race or ethnicity, a group that includes Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

The lower wealth gap among union members by race and ethnicity follows from a number of factors that are directly related to their jobs. African-Americans, Latinos, and other people of color stand to gain more in terms of higher wages, greater job stability, and better benefits from a union.

 Since union membership serves to level up the playing field, the jump in job quality is more pronounced for people of color than for whites. That is, all workers gain something from joining a union, but those gains are larger for people of color because their alternative without a union is worse than it is for whites.

 Increased union membership is one such institution proven to lift up all workers.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christianweller/2018/10/17/racial-wealth-gap-much-smaller-among-union-members/#a817fef6c99e


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