Persistent socioeconomic gaps for Black Californians would take more than 248 years to close unless more is done: Report

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Persistent socioeconomic gaps for ****** Californians would take more than 248 years to close unless more is done: Report

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Almost two decades ago, the inaugural State of ****** California report was the first to provide a comprehensive look at how the material conditions and socioeconomic outcomes for ****** Californians fared compared to other ******* and ******* groups.

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published by the ****** Policy Project, an initiative of the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for ******** ********* Studies, builds upon its predecessor by providing a comparative analysis with a sobering message: Despite improvements in the quality of life for ****** communities in California since 2000, ******* inequality stubbornly persists and may continue to do so for centuries to come unless more is done.

Utilizing the “Equality Index,” which was modeled after one developed by international consulting group Global Insight Inc., the researchers found that ****** Californians’ overall socioeconomic outcomes improved by an average of 21.7% in the state based on census data from 2000 to 2020.

The analysis was informed by an extensive set of outcome data in economics, housing, health, education, ********* justice and civic engagement, with the largest improvements occurring in education.

Yet in 2020, compared to white Californians, who serve as the baseline for the Equality Index at a score of 1.00, researchers also found that ****** Californians had the lowest score (0.69) of all ******* ********* groups. This means that the outcomes of ****** residents scored 30% lower than white Californians across all analyzed socioeconomic measures. Other ******* and ******* groups’ scores were 0.72 for Latinos, 0.74 for Indigenous Californians and 1.14 for ****** Pacific Islanders.

Additionally, ****** Californians were only able to close the overall ******* gap in social and economic outcomes with ******* by a mere 4%, or three index points (0.66 to 0.69), since 2000.

“According to that rate of change, closing the ******* gap between ****** and white Californians would take over 248 years,” said Michael Stoll, faculty director of the ****** Policy Project and author of the report.

Stoll, a professor of public policy, co-authored the original report, which looked at ****** Californians in 2000 and was commissioned by the California Legislative ****** Caucus under the leadership of former California State Assembly Majority Leader and current Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Since then, the state’s ****** population declined for the first time in decades, dropping from 2.2 million to 2.1 million. The ****** population represented 5.6% of the state’s population in 2020, compared to 6.6% in 2000. Once home to the second-largest metro ****** population, Oakland saw a significant decline (46%) in ****** residents. Only two regions saw growth in their ****** population: the Inland Empire, which had the highest regional Equality Index score for ****** Californians, and Sacramento.

The findings of the report demonstrate the impact of gentrification and high housing costs, which limited the economic progress of ****** Californians and led to the shrinkage of ****** communities in the state’s major metropolitan areas; nearly a quarter (24%) of the state’s ****** residents (up from 17% in 2000) now live outside the urban centers of San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and Oakland, likely because of housing affordability issues.

The decline in ****** homeownership between 2000 and 2020 was nearly 6%, while other ******* groups did not experience the same decrease over the same *******. For ****** renters, the median monthly rent increased by over $400, as the report also shows a 12% increase of ****** Californians being rent-burdened, spending 30% or more of their income on rent. The median income for ****** households also remained largely the same, while other ******* groups saw increased earnings of over $10,000 in that same *******.

In addition, despite aggregate improvement on the overall Equality Index, communities in Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose experienced a widening of the gap in outcomes, with drops in homeownership and income gains.

As California looks to advance ******* equity and continues to examine reparations proposals, Bunche Center Director Lorrie Frasure hopes the state’s leaders take a deeper look at the report findings.

“The Equality Index’s measures can help our leaders and lawmakers to better understand the lasting impacts of ******* inequality on ****** Californians’ social and economic opportunities,” said Frasure, who holds the Ralph J. Bunche Endowed Chair and is a professor of political science and ******** ********* Studies.

The researchers also encourage California leaders to use this study as a metric for the pandemic’s absolute impact on ****** life, establishing a baseline for the conditions and disparities experienced by ****** communities before the pandemic. Moving beyond census data, Frasure states that the Bunche Center will launch consistent and ongoing data collection efforts around socioeconomics, health, education, housing and civic engagement, to better understand the patterns found in the report and move toward policy solutions to close the gap for ****** Californians.

The report emphasizes at least one path to help narrow the ******* inequality gap: ****** Californians made progress in issue areas where public policy action took place. Steps like improving access to more required courses for the University of California and California State University systems and implementing ********* justice reforms, such as Proposition 47 and 57, had a marked positive impact on educational and ********* justice outcomes.

“These findings are meant to guide the development of new solutions and to build upon successful programs,” Stoll said. “Although there is a long way to go, the data shows that with investment and action, the lives and socioeconomic outcomes of ****** Californians can significantly improve.”

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University of California, Los Angeles

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Persistent socioeconomic gaps for ****** Californians would take more than 248 years to close unless more is done: Report (2024, April 12)
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