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Black workers hit by US recession

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Although those at the bottom made gains during the 90s, those at the top gained much more, and those at the bottom are hit the worst by the current economic downturn.

The State of Working America, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, suggests that the historic gains made by minority workers in the long boom of the l990s are being undermined by the current recession.

According to economist Jared Bernstein, one of the report’s authors, average household income of black families rose by 17% between 1995-2000, while average Hispanic income rose even faster, by 27% in the same period, as more people from minority households got jobs.



But since then, the unemployment rate has jumped from 4% to 6%, and real wage growth has slowed to just 1% per year, in what they describe as a "jobless recovery.”

BBC

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