BLACK CHILDREN LOSING GROUND COMPARED TO PARENTS

JULIA ISAACS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION - Median family incomes have risen for both black and white families, but less so for black families. Moreover, . . . analysis reveals a significant difference in the extent to which parents are able to pass their economic advantages onto their children. Whereas children of white middle-income parents tend to exceed their parents in income, a majority of black children of middle-income parents fall below their parents in income and economic status. These findings are provided in more detail below.

Median family income for both black and white families has increased over the last 30 years, but income gaps still persist.

- Between 1974 and 2004, white and black men in their 30s experienced a decline in income, with the largest decline among black men. However, median family incomes for both racial groups increased, because of large increases in women's incomes. Income growth was particularly high for white women.

- The lack of income growth for black men combined with low marriage rates in the black population has had a negative impact on trends in family income for black families.

- There was no progress in reducing the gap in family income between blacks and whites. In 2004, median family income of blacks ages 30 to 39 was only 58 percent that of white families in the same age group ($35,000 for blacks compared to $60,000 for whites).

- Black children grow up in families with much lower income than white children.

- White children are more likely to surpass parents' income than black children at a similar point in the income distribution.

- Only 31 percent of black children born to parents in the middle of the income distribution have family income greater than their parents, compared to 68 percent of white children from the same income bracket.