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Poverty among minorities in the United States: Explaining the racial poverty gap for Blacks and Latinos

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  • Carlos Gradín

    (Universidade de Vigo)

Abstract

The two largest minorities in the United States, African Americans and people of Hispanic origin, show official poverty rates at least twice as high as those of non-Hispanic Whites. These similarly high poverty rates between the two minorities are, however, the result of different combinations of factors related to the specific characteristics of these two groups. In this paper, we analyze the role of demographic and labor-related variables in the current differential of poverty rates among racial and ethnic groups in the United States and its recent evolution. Our results show, first, that these differentials are largely explained by differing family characteristics of the ethnic groups. Furthermore, we show that while labor market activity of family members and a preponderance of single mothers play a more significant role in the higher poverty rates of Blacks, a larger number of dependent children is closely associated with higher poverty among Latinos, who also suffer from a larger educational attainment gap and higher immigration rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Gradín, 2011. "Poverty among minorities in the United States: Explaining the racial poverty gap for Blacks and Latinos," Post-Print hal-00712378, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00712378
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.581219
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00712378
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    Cited by:

    1. Lopez Barrera, Emiliano & Murguia, Juan M., 2015. "Hispanic Job-Seekers outside the fields: are they discriminated?," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 206034, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Bui, Tuan & Nguyen, Cuong & Pham, Phuong, 2015. "Poverty among ethnic minorities: transition process, inequality and economic growth," MPRA Paper 68924, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Carlos Gradin, 2015. "Poverty and Ethnicity among Black South Africans," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 27(5), pages 921-942, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Sciences & Humanities;

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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