Income gap persists among racial groups
By WILLIAM M. HARTNETT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Higher education is billed as America’s great equalizer, but the economic rewards of a college degree are significantly smaller for minorities than for whites, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis of data recently released by the Census Bureau.
At every level of education – from high school dropouts to people with Ph.D.s – blacks and Hispanics on average make significantly less money than non-Hispanic whites.
Even when the effects of age, occupation and ability to speak English are taken into account, whites consistently have higher incomes. And though the payoff of a four-year or advanced college degree is considerable regardless of race or ethnicity, the country’s largest income disparities occur among those who are most educated.