Since racial disparities tend to get smaller throughout the course of an economic expansion, it seems likely that racial differences in unemployment rates will continue to shrink if the overall unemployment rate falls further. 9 More broadly, the persistent disparities in employment outcomes are mirrored in significant and persistent racial and ethnic differences in families’ income and wealth.
According to forthcoming findings from the latest SCF and as shown in figure 3, the average income for white families in 2015 was about $ per year, compared with $ for black families and $ for Hispanic families.