National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality Calls for New Policies Responding...

Business Editors

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 2002

The National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality says new Census figures on the increasing poverty rate and declining median household income illustrate the need for economic policies that protect African

Numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau earlier today showed that median income for African American households dropped by 3.4 percent, and the poverty rate for African-American families increased by 1.2 percent.

"The significant decline in median income for African American households is greater than it has been in the past," said Dr. William E. Spriggs, Executive Director of the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality.

Spriggs said that a one percent drop in the share of African Americans holding jobs typically leads to a one percent drop in median income for African American households.

"So, this drop of 3.4 percent announced by the Census Bureau is an important indicator of the potential depths of the current weakness in the labor market," Spriggs added.

The director of the National Urban League's Institute of Opportunity and Equality said that given the continued weakness in job growth, it is likely that median income for African-American households will fall below 1999 levels of $29, 646.

During the last recession, when the share of African Americans with jobs dropped several points from a peak of 57.4 percent in February 1990 to a low of 54.1 percent in April 1993, median income fell over one thousand dollars as well. Median income for African-American households did not return to its 1990 level until 1994, when the share of African Americans holding jobs got back up to 56.8 percent.

Spriggs said that the concern is that the Administration has not advanced policies to respond to the needs of African-American and other low-income families severely hit by this jobless recovery.

Spriggs noted that the current recession came after a long and deep expansion of the labor market, so the share of African Americans with jobs had been at a record high 61.4 percent in February 2000.

"But, because this recession has had a similar drop in employment, and slow job growth, it may take another four years for African American median incomes to recover," Spriggs warned.

The National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality, which grew out of the League's Washington Operations, conducts research, policy analysis and advocacy focused on issues of critical importance to the African-American community and the nation as a whole. Nationwide Insurance, through a $1.5 million, three-year grant to the National Urban League, provided initial funds for the establishment and operation of the Institute.

The Urban League is the nation's oldest and largest community-based movement empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. The National Urban League, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the nonprofit, nonpartisan movement, while Urban League affiliates operate in more than 100 cities in 34 states and the District of Columbia.