Race relations in the United States: education and wealth disparity remain a key impediment

As of 2020, at a time when the proportion of American children living with two parents had declined to 70 per cent, less than 40 per cent of Black children were living with two parents.

Nearly half of Black children lived with their mothers alone compared to 20 per cent for Hispanic children, 13 per cent for White non-Hispanic children, and 8 per cent for Asian children.

But Americans remain optimistic about race relations with a May 2021 NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finding that 57 per cent think race relations for future generations will be better than they are now, albeit 23 per cent say they will be worse, and 15 per cent report they will be about the same.

Is the answer education, in line with Asian Americans having the highest average income and high education levels, despite that category having the greatest disparity in terms of income amongst its many ethnicities?

While further gains overcoming economic disparity will take time, education is indeed important given that the McKinsey Global Institute estimated in 2021 that about 6.7 million Black workers (or 42 per cent of the Black labour force) currently hold jobs that could be subject to disruption by automation and digital tech advancements by 2030.

Despite blacks comprising about 13 per cent of the US population, McKinsey notes that Blacks comprise just 6 per cent of computer science and engineering students, 2 per cent of businesses (more than one employee), 5 per cent of physicians and 4.5 per cent of software developers.

McKinsey recommends that companies eliminate biases in hiring, diversify promotion and offer young Blacks more paid apprenticeships and internships, while corporations could encourage more Black students to enter jobs related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum in schools through sponsorship programs.

Given the argument that students perform better when their teacher is of the same race/ethnicity, higher education attainment can promote opportunities for more Blacks and Hispanics to teach given that the overwhelming majority of public elementary and secondary school teachers between 2003-04 and 2015-16 were White.

A greater commitment to domestic education and employment may also diminish the need for high levels of immigration with Asian immigrants holding the majority of employer-sponsored H-1B visas in recent times, albeit that the 2018 limit of 85,000 overseas workers in specialty (professional) level occupations with at least a bachelor’s degree represents a fraction of that 2,000,000 college students that today graduate with such a qualification each year.

There are some positive examples of more being done to help Blacks and others get ahead.  

In Stockton, California, where Blacks and Asians have poverty rates were well above the national average, a universal basic income experiment began in February 2019 (funded by donors) which involved giving $500 a month to 125 people for two years to people living at or below the city's median household income.

It was reported in March 2021 that the program had reduced the month-to-month income fluctuations that households face for basic living needs, increased recipients' full-time employment by 12 percentage points, and decreased their measurable feelings of anxiety and depression, compared with their control-group counterparts.