Business: Situation Report: Business

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THE economic gap between white and black is still tremendous, but it is narrowing. Negro median family income rose from 54% as much as white income in 1965 to 60% in 1968. The difference is less dramatic if the South, where half the blacks still live, is excluded. In the North Central and Western states, black family income runs 75% to 80% as high as white income.

The number of Negro families existing below the poverty level ($3,553 for a nonfarm family of four) dropped from 48% in 1959 to 29% in 1968. Poverty depends partly on whether there is a man around the house. During the 1959-68 period, the number of nonwhite "poverty" families headed by men declined from 1,452,000 to 697,000, but those headed by women rose from 683,000 to 734,000. The number of black families with incomes of $8,000 or more tripled in the 1950s and nearly tripled again in the 1960s.

But blacks' wages tend to run much lower than whites'. The Negro who completes four years of high school earns less than the white who finishes only eight years of elementary school. The black with four years of college has a median income of $7,754—or less than the $8,154 earned by the white who has only four years of high school. "Underemployment"—work in seasonal or part-time jobs—is more common than for whites. Result: a black family often has to have two or more workers to earn as much as a white family with one member at work.

BLACK WHITE

Median Family Income $5,359 $8,936

Below Poverty Level 29% 8%

Below $5,000 a year 46.9% 19.9%

$8,000 and above 29.5% 57.6%

$25,000 and above .4% 2.8%

Per Capita Income $1,348 $2,616

Unemployment Overall (Feb. '70) 7.0%* 3.8%

Unemployment Among Married Men 2.5%* 1.4%

Unemployment Among Teen-Agers (Feb. '70) 25.3%* 11.7%

Receiving Welfare 16%* 3%

Number of Professional Workers (doctors,lawyers, teachers, etc.) 692,000* 10,031,000

Increase in Professional Jobs in 1960s 109%* 41%

Managerial Workers 254,000* 7,721,000

Increase in Managerial Jobs in 1960s 43%* 12%

Self-Employed (nonfarm) 293,000* 4,964,000

Own Home 38%* 64%

Own Car 40.3% 51.8%

Own Black-and-White TV 81.9% 77.5%

Own Color TV 12.4% 33.5%

Average Insurance Coverage $2,750* $6,600