Sec. 2. Findings
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/bill/117/s/2723/is/section-2·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: Wealth inequality is steadily rising in the United States. As the disparities between the richest Americans and the poorest Americans widen, White Americans have grown disproportionately wealthier, while the median wealth of Black Americans has stagnated. In 1968, and with the amounts adjusted for inflation, the median middle-class Black household had $6,674 in wealth, while the median middle-class White household had $70,786 in wealth. In 2016, the typical middle-class Black household had $13,024 in wealth compared to $149,703 for the median White household.
As of 2019, the typical White family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family and five times the wealth of the typical Hispanic family. As of 2019, White families have the highest level of both median wealth: $188,200. Black families’ median and mean wealth is less than 15 percent that of White families, at $24,100. Hispanic families’ median and mean wealth is $36,100. As of 2019, families who are Asian, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander have lower wealth than White families, but higher wealth than Black and Hispanic families.
The family income gap between Black and White Americans today remains at almost exactly the level it was in the 1960s. In 2016, the median annual income for Asian American adults was $51,288, compared with $47,958 for White Americans, $31,082 for African Americans, and $30,400 for Hispanic Americans. As of the last quarter of 2019, the median White worker made 28 percent more than the typical Black worker and more than 35 percent more than the median Latinx worker. On average, women are paid 82 cents for every dollar paid to men.
For every dollar paid to White men, Black women are paid 63 cents, Native American women are paid 60 cents, and Latinas are paid 55 cents. Asian American and Pacific Islander
(AAPI)women make 85 cents for every dollar paid to White men, and different groups within America’s AAPI community have unique experiences with economic discrimination. For example, between 2015 and 2019, Hmong women earned 60 cents for every dollar paid to White men. Disparities in wealth between genders are even more stark. As of 2013, the average wealth for working single women was $3,210, whereas the single working man had a median wealth of $10,150. Single Black women had a median wealth of $200, and single Hispanic women had a median wealth of $100: less than a penny for every dollar of wealth owned by single White non-Hispanic men. The COVID–19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities in America. Many longstanding economic conditions, such as lower levels of income and wealth and higher levels of housing and food insecurity, leave individuals of color, particularly women of color and Black women, with less cushion, making them more vulnerable during the COVID–19 economic crisis. Informed and well-designed policies are needed to curb the growing inequality between Americans of different races and income levels. In order to meet this need, Congress needs access to standardized, reliable information about the socioeconomic consequences of the legislation it enacts.