Income Inequality

A Breakdown of the Black-White Homeownership Inequality Gap

Homeownership is less achievable for Black Americans and they live in neighborhoods with houses valued at $48,000 less than white families’ homes, a new report reveals.

  • By Andre Claudio

September Saw One of the Biggest Drops in Women’s Jobs Since Pandemic Began

More than 300,000 women left the labor force last month, the second time in the pandemic that the start of a new school year and loss of child care has caused a major drop-off of women from the workforce.

  • By Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th

The States With the Weakest and Strongest Social Safety Nets

New research allows for easy comparisons of how states stack up based on a variety of social welfare and pro-labor policies, and also offers a look at economic outcomes in each place.

  • By Bill Lucia

Data Show Rise in Households Struggling to Afford Food For Kids

But the new federal statistics also reveal food insecurity among children in 2020 didn't reach levels seen during the last recession.

  • By Bill Lucia

Pandemic Hardship is About to Get a Lot Worse for Millions of Out-of-Work Americans

COMMENTARY | The door to unemployment benefits is closing for many people.

  • By Jeffrey Kucik and Don Leonard, The Conversation

Is This the End of Welfare as We Know It?

The overnight success of the new child tax credit has experts and parents taking a hard look at traditional welfare.

  • By Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic

40M Americans to Get Major Boost in Food Assistance Benefits

Aid provided through the nation’s largest food assistance program will increase by upwards of 25% beginning in October, the Biden administration announced.

  • By Bill Lucia

Cash for Kids Comes to the United States

The new child tax credit will radically reduce poverty, but millions of the poorest children might miss out.

  • By Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic

Poverty In 2021 Looks Different Than in 1964 – But the US Hasn’t Changed How it Measures Who’s Poor Since LBJ Began His War

  • By Mark Robert Rank, The Conversation

Wide Digital Divide Persists Between Low- and High-income Households

A Pew Research Center survey shows that people making less than $30,000 have few digital devices and lack internet access, in sharp contrast to nearly all of those making $100,000 or more.

  • By Jean Dimeo

Report: Grocery Taxes Impede Food Security for Low-income Americans

About two-thirds of all U.S. counties tax grocery foods, which creates “serious burdens” for the families living at or below the poverty line, according to a Cornell University study.

  • By Brent Woodie

Bidenomics Really Is Something New

COMMENTARY | The president is willing to take on political fights that Obama and Clinton considered unwise, if not unwinnable. Will that strategy pay off?

  • By Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic
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One State’s Plan to Ease the ‘Invisible’ Diaper Gap for Families

A third of families nationwide experience diaper need, regardless of age, race or income, data shows. Washington state will allocate funding for diaper banks in its latest budget to help close that gap.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

How the Federal Reserve is Increasing Wealth Inequality

The Fed’s low-interest-rate policies have stabilized the economy and turbocharged the stock market. But those who don’t own lots of stocks haven’t benefited anywhere near as much as those who do.

  • By Allan Sloan and Cezary Podkul, ProPublica

Why are so Many Workers Moving Across State Lines?

In a report, researchers say people want to live in less populated areas with lower housing costs, potentially spreading higher-income families across the U.S.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

How to Improve Public Health, the Environment and Racial Equity All at Once: Upgrade Low-income Housing

COMMENTARY | Retrofitting low-income housing is a way to tackle some of the nation's pressing health, social and environmental challenges.

  • By Jonathan Levy, The Conversation

Why Cash Payments Aren’t Always the Best Tool to Help Poor People

COMMENTARY | There seem to be a growing consensus that cash is the best option in the fight against poverty. But is it?

  • By Heath Henderson, The Conversation

As More Americans Struggle to Pay Water Bills, Affordability Solutions Are Past Due

COMMENTARY | With utility shutoff moratoriums expiring, millions of people, particularly people of color and low-income families, are at risk of losing water service.

  • By Chris Shaffner

Where the Economy Tanks, Heart Attack Deaths Rise

COMMENTARY | The diverging economic fortunes of different parts of the country in the period after the 2008-2009 recession is linked to differing death rates from heart disease and stroke among middle-aged Americans, researchers report.

  • By Sameed Khatana, Futurity

Study: $15 Minimum Wage Would Result in Fewer Jobs, Less Poverty

A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office comes as the Biden administration pushes the federal minimum wage hike.

  • By Bill Lucia

Poverty Grows Despite Economic Recovery

Some jobless workers have been excluded from unemployment benefits.

  • By Tim Henderson, Stateline