Americans who were left behind as the country pulled out of the Great Recession — African Americans, Hispanics and people without college degrees — saw large gains in net worth over the past three years, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
But the improvements didn’t narrow the inequality gap: The share of U.S. income held by the top 1 percent of households reached 24 percent in 2016, a record high, and the median net worth of white households, at $171,000, was nearly 10 times larger than for black households.
The findings suggest that although a robust economy has benefited all economic groups, the wealthiest and most educated have been in a position to benefit even more because they began with such a significant advantage.
“The gap between the haves and have-nots hasn’t closed in recent years. It still remains a gulf,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “These groups have a lot of financial catch-up to do.”
[Black and Hispanic families are making more money but they still lag far behind whites]
Even so, the gains of the past three years marked a significant shift from 2010 to 2013, when wealth fell for all racial and ethnic groups except whites.
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