For every dollar of white wealth in the US, Black families have 12 cents

The following is from Mckinsey research.

Staying accountable

Getting to zero. Last week, a group of prominent American CEOs, nonprofit executives, and academic leaders launched NinetyToZero, an initiative aimed at eliminating the racial wealth gap through “deliberate, collective action.” The typical Black American family has just one-eighth the wealth of a white family, according to the US Federal Reserve—and the gap has remained about the same for the past several decades. McKinsey research shows that this wealth disparity will cost the US economy between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion in GDP output each year—and that collective action by stakeholders across sectors is the most promising way to promote racial equity. Among the leaders of the new initiative is Dr. Michelle Williams, dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “The key to narrowing the racial health gap,” said Dean Williams, “is to narrow the racial wealth gap.”

Naming it. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared racism “a serious public-health threat.” In a statement last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky noted that racism has led to stark health disparities in the US—and she committed to taking steps to address those disparities, including investing more in communities of color and tracking progress through a new web portal. This McKinsey infographic shows some of the many ways that racism affects health.

The Facts - 95 years

That’s about how long it will take, at the current rate, for Black employees to reach talent parity across all levels in the US private sector. If companies improved their promotion, attrition, and external-hiring rates, talent parity could be achieved in 25 years instead. Black employees encounter a broken rung from entry-level jobs to managerial positions, and they are leaving companies more often than their white counterparts. Black workers are also concentrated in the South and underrepresented in the cities and counties with the fastest job growth. Companies can boost the representation of Black talent by going where the talent is: locating hubs, branches, second headquarters, and factories in places where Black people live. A series of such moves by a number of companies could help transform private-sector hiring.

 

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