Racial Gap

How Different Rating Systems Affect the Racial Earning Gap in Gig Work

When an online platform uses a five-star rating scale, non-White gig workers receive lower ratings, on average, than their White counterparts, resulting in a 9 percentage point income gap. However, changing the rating scale to a simple thumbs up/thumbs down nearly eliminates this racial disparity.

Despite Recent Progress, the Black Homeownership Rate Is the Lowest Among All Major Racial Groups

As of 2023, the homeownership rate of Black Americans is 44.7 percent - significantly lower than that of White (72.4 percent), Asian (63.4 percent) and Hispanic (51.0 percent) Americans.

Report Documents the State of Education for Black Students in California

The "Black Minds Matter 2025" report from EdTrust-West has outlined the state of education for Black Californians, documenting the barriers facing Black students in TK-12 and higher education settings.

Does Transgenerational Slavery Trauma Cause Present-Day Health Disparities?

The study authors argue that "there is no justification needed [to explain present-day racial health disparities] beyond the key role of structural racism experienced directly by African Americans today."

Black Children Get Less Sleep Than Children of Other Racial Backgrounds

A new study has found Black children get less sleep and experience greater variability in their sleep routines compared to children from other racial groups. As sleep is an essential component of pediatric health, the authors believe their findings suggest pediatric clinicians should inquire about sleep habits when working with children from diverse racial backgrounds.

Study Examines Factors Leading to Racial Disparities in Mammography Behavior

The study authors write, "Addressing the social determinants of health factors unique to Black women will not only increase mammography screening and improve breast cancer outcomes for this population but may lessen the economic burden that disparate health outcomes create."

Black Americans Represent Just 5 Percent of All Top Staff in the New U.S. Congress

While Black Americans represent nearly 14 percent of the total U.S. population, they represent just 5.5 percent of all top staff positions in the personal offices of U.S. House members and senators.

Examining Racial Diversity Among Lead Actors in 2024’s Highest-Earning Films

Only 25 films out of the top 100 highest-earning movies in 2024 featured a nonwhite lead or co-lead actor. These 25 films feature a combined 26 protagonists, 10 of whom are Black.

Study Uncovers More Evidence That Black Students Are Overrepresented in School Discipline

In an examination of six different kinds of school discipline and punishment, three comparison groups, and 16 subpopulations, a new study has found that "no matter how you slice it, Black students are overrepresented among those punished and excluded."

Study Highlights the Preferential Promotion of White Men in Academic Medicine

"To achieve a workforce that reflects the diversity of the U.S. population, academic medicine must transform its culture and the practices that surround faculty appointments and promotions," write the study authors, who found White male medical professors are more likely than their peers from nearly every other racial or gender group to receive a promotion.

Black Americans Own Three Percent of Employer Business in the United States

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2022 less than 195,000 of the 5.9 million employer firms in the United States in 2022 were owned by Black Americans.

Black Athletes Are Significantly More Likely Than White Peers to Experience Cardiac Arrest

A team of scholars led by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta has found Black athletes are five times as likely as White athletes to experience a heart attack or die from sudden cardiac complications.

The Huge Racial Gap in College Completion Rates

According to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the percentage of students who began college in the fall of 2018 and earned a credential within six years rose to 61.1 percent. For Black students who enrolled in 2018, 43.8 percent had earned a degree or other credential within six years. This is more than 17 percentage points below the overall rate. And the racial gap has increased in recent years.

School Segregation is Widening Racial Achievement Gaps in U.S. Public Schools

A new study from scholars at Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Alabama, has found racial achievement gaps grow more quickly in districts where Black and Hispanic students attend higher-poverty schools than their White peers.

Report Examines Long-Term Outcomes of State-Level Affirmative Action Bans

The National Bureau of Economic Research has examined the long-term effects on educational attainment and economic outcomes for Black and Hispanic students in Texas, California, Washington, and Florida - the first four states to ban affirmative action in higher education admissions decisions.

Study Finds Racial Disparities in Student Loan Defaults and Repayment Patterns

Over the past two decades, 50 percent of Black and 40 percent of Hispanic student loan borrowers have experienced a loan default, compared to 29 percent of their White counterparts.

Black First-Year Student Enrollment Plummets at Harvard Law

This academic year, only 19 Black students enrolled in Harvard Law's first-year class. This is the lowest number of Black first-year law students at Harvard since 1965.

While Diversity Among College-Educated Adults Increases, Diversity in the Teacher Workforce Lags Behind

A new study has found that while diversity has grown among America's college-educated adults , diversity in the country's teacher workforce is lagging behind.

Ending Affirmative Action May Not Produce a More Academically Gifted Student Body

Scholars from Cornell University have found removing race data from AI applicant-ranking algorithms results in a less diverse applicant pool without meaningfully increasing the group's academic merit.

Study Finds Steep Decline in Black First-Year Enrollment at Highly Selective Universities

Among highly selective institutions, Black first-year student enrollment dropped by a staggering 16.9 percent this year, the sharpest drop of any major racial group. This was the first admissions cycle since the Supreme Court ended the use of race-sensitive admissions at colleges and universities.

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