TheBlack-WhiteWealthGapWillWidenEducationalDisparitiesDuringtheCoronavirusPandemic-CenterforAmericanProgressArticle.pdf

A R T I C L E AUG 12, 2020

The Black-White WealthGap Will WidenEducational DisparitiesDuring the CoronavirusPandemicLess wealth makes it more di!cult for African American parents to get reliable access to the internetand devices for remote learning.

AUTHORS

Dania Francis

, , ,

, , , , , , ,

A student leans over her laptop while working on a project in Oakland, California, in August 2017. (Getty/Aric Crabb)

With the fall fast approaching, schooling has moved front and center in the publicdebate. Despite repeated urging that public schools resumein-person classes, many school districts have already due tosurging coronavirus cases across the United States. While a necessary public healthmeasure, moving classes online raises significant racial equity issues that state, local,and federal policymakers must keep in mind as they craft legislative solutions for thefall. Black families and predominantly Black communities often have fewer economicresources—including less wealth and —to support remote learningand ensure students have access to the internet and necessary devices such ascomputers and other equipment. Due to this —andcombined with coronavirus-induced job losses and housing insecurity—many Blackchildren could quickly fall behind their white peers this fall.

Divergent access to the necessary for successful remote learning—such asbooks, computers, and other equipment—could further worsen

. Due to systemic racism in the housing industry, predominantlyBlack neighborhoods tend to have . This, in turn, means theschools in these same neighborhoods have fewer financial resources—and these

have only increased and during thepandemic.

The flipside of underresourced schools is that parents will have to provide more of theresources themselves as schools transition to remote learning. The pressure on parentsto provide these additional resources is greatest in communities where families haveless wealth and thus less ability to support their children’s online education. UnlessCongress provides the money so that local leaders and school districts can makenecessary changes, many Black children are more likely to fall behind their white peersin education, stymying their educational progress.

How the racial wealth gap affectseducational attainmentIn the United States, wealth and education already feed into each other in anintergenerational cycle. Families with more wealth are able to provide more educationalopportunities for their children, who are in turn able to capitalize on thoseopportunities in ways that create more wealth. This reinforcement of wealth througheducation and of education through wealth—when combined with the racially disparateeconomic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic—will only further widenexisting racial wealth and education gaps. The intergenerational transmission of racialwealth inequality is playing out at rapid speed during the pandemic.

Wealth—the di"erence between what people own and what they owe—is key tofamilies’ immediate financial security and their long-term economic mobility. During aneconomic crisis, families with more wealth are better able to protect themselves in theevent of adverse personal outcomes such as temporary layo"s or more permanent joblosses. In communities that experience widespread job losses, those who have bettereconomic standing to begin with are

. In the current pandemic, for example, wealth can provide emergencysavings to help pay bills—especially rent or mortgage payments, which are key tomaintaining housing stability.

Yet have a median wealth of about 10 cents to every dollar of wealth ofthe median white family. In 2016, the last year for which data are available, the medianBlack family had about $17,150 in wealth while the median white family had about$171,000 in wealth. Because wealth is often passed on from one generation to the next,this massive wealth gap between Black and white families . As

the authors of the comprehensive report “” point out, “wealth begets more wealth.” Inheritances and gifts,

access to beneficial social networks, and education are all mechanisms by whichfamilies pass on wealth to their children. Put simply, white families have moreopportunities than Black families to give their children a leg up because they haveaccess to more wealth.

Recent job losses have exacerbated theracial wealth gapThis past spring, school closures and the transition to online learning, while a necessarypublic health measure, required that families had access to financial resources to helppay for part of their children’s education. At the same time, many of these same parentslost part or all of their earnings from coronavirus-induced job losses and cuts in hours.Black workers, who tend to work in less stable jobs where they are at higher risk ofgetting laid o", are to feel the brunt of an economic downturn.These jobs also make it more di!cult for people to buy a house . AfricanAmerican families then live in more financially precarious situations because they are

and can be more easily evicted if they fail to pay theirrent and because they have fewer savings outside their house than is the case for whitefamilies. Less wealth—reflected, among other things, in lower homeownership rates—makes it more di!cult for Black families to a"ord reliable internet service andelectronic devices, both of which are necessary for remote learning.

African Americans have experienced particularly large job losses in a labor marketcharacterized by persistent racism and inequality, as the

discuss in a recent report. Estimates based on show that 54.8 percent of Black workers said that they had lost incomes due to a

job loss or cut in hours from late April to early June, compared with 45.8 percent ofwhite workers.

The labor market pain has created housing instability for Black families to a much largerdegree than was the case for white families. Estimates based on show thatmore than one-third of African Americans who experienced job-related income lossessaid that they either didn’t pay their mortgage or deferred their mortgage, comparedwith only 16.9 percent for white families with earnings losses. Among renters, 38.3percent of Black families with income losses didn’t pay or deferred their rent, comparedwith 23.1 percent of white families in a similar situation.

Housing insecurity among Black families worsens the digitaldivide

The sharp labor market decline this past spring the housing stability of Blackfamilies more quickly than it did for white families. This discrepancy reflectsdi"erences in emergency savings. , for example, show that 36.4percent of African American homeowners and 56.4 percent of African American renterscould not access $400 in an emergency in April 2020. In comparison, 24.4 percent ofwhite homeowners and 50.9 percent of white renters had di!culties coming up withthat amount in an emergency. Without emergency savings, many more Blackhomeowners and renters quickly faced trouble making their monthly payments thanwhite homeowners and renters when they lost their jobs.

As a result, many Black families also had fewer savings to pay for tools such as internetaccess and electronic devices, which are crucial to maintaining children’s education.About 1 in 7 Black renters who have no trouble paying their current rent only haveaccess to the internet for educational purposes sometimes, rarely, or never. This is

almost three times as large a share as Black homeowners who had no trouble payingtheir mortgage. Importantly, most Black families rent rather than own their home. Andthe gap between Black homeowners and Black renters in having reliable internet accessis much greater than among white homeowners and white renters. The same is truewhen it comes to access to electronic devices: Black renters are much less likely thaneither Black homeowners or white renters to have reliable access to these devices. (seeFigure 1)

Homeownership is often a becauseit allows families to have more predictable housing costs. Yet most Black families renttheir homes, and many of those renters have had trouble paying their bills amid thecurrent recession. These job losses have only exacerbated the lack of access to theinternet and electronic devices. For example, 28.7 percent of Black parents withchildren in public or private schools who had trouble paying their rent in the previousmonth also said that they only sometimes, rarely, or never had access to the internet.And 36.8 percent of Black renters having trouble paying their rent said that they onlysometimes, rarely, or never had access to devices for educational purposes for theirchildren. (see Figure 1) These are much larger shares than for any other group of Blackor white renters or homeowners. A lack of savings creates more housing instability forBlack families, which leads to less access to the internet and electronic devices forremote learning.

The lack of reliable internet or an electronic device for remote learning also correlateswith fewer hours per week of teaching time. (see Figure 2) This correlation is muchlarger among Black families than white families, where the lack of reliable access to theinternet and to devices is less pronounced. Unreliable internet access and a lack ofconsistent access to electronic devices reduces families’ time teaching children by twoto three hours among Black families but only by one to two hours among white families.(see Figure 2) White families without reliable internet or devices are probably also lesslikely to simultaneously experience job loss and a lack of savings; as a result, they cana"ord to spend additional time with their children to o"set the lack of internet anddevices. While the short- and long-term impacts of coronavirus-related school closuresand job losses on children’s educational outcomes cannot be measured yet, it is alreadyclear that there are di"erential e"ects by race on access to educational resources as aresult of the pandemic. In particular, directly and immediately feeds into persistent educational gaps.

What schools and policymakers can do tooffset thisAs the debate over school reopenings heats up, policymakers must consider how wealthdisparities between Black and white families will a"ect educational outcomes. Parents,as well as teachers and sta", need to feel safe sending their children back to school.When in-person schooling is not possible, parents must have the resources to help theirchildren learn remotely. Schools and local government can provide reliable internetservice and electronic devices to children—but they need . Stateand local governments will also need to ensure that families byextending moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures.

Furthermore, Congress can do more to o"set increasingly permanent job losses; forexample, Congress can extend added unemployment benefits and protect public sectoremployment by helping state and local governments address large coronavirus-relatedbudget deficits. Congress and employers can also make sure that parents can

from work to help their children with their education when schools are closedor remote learning is necessary. All of this assistance will be especially valuable to Blackfamilies, who often have much fewer savings than white families to tide them over in anemergency. Without targeted assistance to ensure that parents can maintain a qualityeducation for their children, school closures and continued remote learning will widenthe racial educational achievement gaps between Black and white children for theforeseeable future.

Dania Francis is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at theUniversity of Massachusetts Boston. Christian E. Weller is a professor in theMcCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University ofMassachusetts Boston and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

To find the latest CAP resources on the coronavirus, visit our .

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings andconclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available .American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our workpossible.

The Center for American Progress is an independentnonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated toimproving the lives of all Americans through bold,progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership andconcerted action. Our aim is not just to change theconversation, but to change the country.

Learn about our sister organization, the , an advocacy

organization dedicated to improving the lives ofall Americans.

A U T H O R S Dania Francis

Senior Fellow