Urban Institute researchers examine gender inequalities, racial segregation, and the mutually reinforcing disparities they cause in education, housing, employment, income, and health care.
Our experts analyze race and gender gaps in student test scores, measure unequal treatment toward minorities in the housing market, and study the persistent discrimination that feeds wealth and income gaps. We also probe the unique challenges of single mothers, noncustodial fathers, and hard-to-employ young men—and evaluate the public and private programs designed to help them.
Why have middle-income blacks and Hispanics seen little, if any, improvement in their economic status relative to whites? New research from the Urban Institute's Opportunity and Ownership Project points to an ever-widening wealth chasm.
Income inequality understates the size of the economic gap between whites and minorities in the United States. In 2010, whites on average had two times the income of blacks and Hispanics, but six times the wealth. Analyses of wealth accumulation over the life cycle show that the racial wealth gap grows sharply with age. Wealth isn't just money in the bank, it's insurance against tough times, tuition to get a better education and a better job, savings to retire on, and a springboard into the middle class.
We used data from the National Health Interview Survey to examine racial and ethnic differences in the management of childhood asthma - including the likelihood that children with asthma have taken preventive medicine, received an asthma management plan, or taken a class or course on treating asthma. We found significant differences between African-American, white, non-Hispanic, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican and other Hispanic children. We discuss implications for public health responses and racial and ethnic disparities in asthma morbidity.
We compared the employment of African American and white youth as they transitioned to adulthood from age 18 to 22, focusing on high school graduates and high school dropouts who did not attend college. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997, we found significant differences in labor market participation by race and education. Among key findings, African American high school graduates worked as much and sometimes less than white high school dropouts. Findings suggest however, that the improved labor market participation associated with a high school diploma is higher over time for African Americans than for white youth.
By 2010, Medicaid and CHIP covered 36 percent of all children and over half of all Hispanic and black children. Generally, the Hispanic, black, and white children served by Medicaid and CHIP appear to have high levels of access to care. However, black and Hispanic children with Medicaid/CHIP coverage may have more problems accessing care, relative to their white counterparts, in two areas: specialty and mental health care. While overall levels of care are similar, the magnitude of difference in specialty care requires further study to explore both the causes and the potential implications of these patterns.