Title: INCOME GAP BETWEEN RACES WIDE AS IN 1960, STUDY FINDS - The New York Times
Headings: INCOME GAP BETWEEN RACES WIDE AS IN 1960, STUDY FINDS
INCOME GAP BETWEEN RACES WIDE AS IN 1960, STUDY FINDS
By John Herbers, Special To the New York Times
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Content: The gap between the average incomes of whites and blacks is as wide today as it was in 1960, primarily because the proportion of black families headed by women rose from one-fifth to nearly one-half and the proportion of black men with jobs dropped sharply in that period. Those were the principal findings of the first nonpartisan, comprehensive report on the status of blacks since the 1980 census and subsequent data were published. The study was conducted by the Center for the Study of Social Policy, a private research group headed by a Nixon Administration official. The study shows that black and white families were, on the whole, better off than in 1960, largely because both parents work in so many more families nowadays. In fact, black families in which the husband and wife work increased their earnings at a faster rate than did white families. Education Nearly Equal
The study showed that the educational level of blacks climbed so fast over the last two decades that it is now very close to that of whites. That has generated the movement of many blacks into the middle class, although the income earned by black college graduates is about the same as that earned by white high school graduates. But those gains were offset by the large number of black families in which there is not a husband present to earn money. Fourteen percent of white families with children under 18 are headed by women, while 47 percent of black families are in that category, up from 8 percent in 1950 and 21 percent in 1960. The problem is compounded, the study showed, by the fact that only 55 percent of black men over the age of 16 are employed today, as against 74 percent in 1960.