Economic racism

A new report by the National Urban League called ‘The State of Black America’, examined economic data for 70 metro areas for blacks and 73 for Hispanics and found that there were no regions in the United States where blacks were more likely to be employed or make more money than whites. Like blacks, Hispanics in all regions were consistently paid less than whites though, on average, the gaps between white household income and Hispanic household income were smaller than those between whites and blacks, the report found.

According to the report, in 2014, the median household income for blacks was $35,481, compared to $42,768 for Hispanics and $59,662 for whites. The largest gap in household income was in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, where whites earned an average of $74,455 -- more than two times the average income of $28,138 for blacks. Hispanics in all of the metro areas were consistently paid less than whites. The largest income gap was in Springfield, Mass., where Hispanics made a median household income of $23,911 compared to the $60,105 whites earned.

Marc H. Morial, president and chief executive of the National Urban League explained, "This economic gap between blacks and whites, which is a component of the gap between rich and poor and working class people in America is a continuing problem." Nationwide in 2015, 6.6% of Hispanics and 9.6% of blacks were unemployed compared with 4.6% of whites, the National Urban League reported. But in certain regions, the differences are much more stark. The metro area with the biggest gap in unemployment between blacks and whites was Milwaukee, where 17.3% of blacks were unemployed compared to 4.3% of whites.

Hispanics were more likely to be employed than blacks and were also more likely to have smaller gaps in unemployment compared to whites. But in Springfield, Mass., 21.5% of Hispanics were unemployed compared to 6.3% of whites, making it the area with the biggest disparity between whites and Hispanics in the country.