California Inequality and the Limits of Redistribution

Michael D. Tanner andKelly LesterA recentstudy from the Urban Reform Institute is sounding an alarm about rising inequality and decreasing upward mobility in California. In fact, the report found four of the nation ’s top ten worst metro areas to live in for upward mobility for African‐​Americans and Latinos are in California. Those regions include Los Angeles, Stockton, San Francisco and Bakersfield for African‐​Americans and Santa Rosa, Los Angeles, Stockton, and Modesto for Latinos.The study goes on to point out that minority populations are disproportionately likely to live in poverty and are far less likely to move up the economic ladder. African ‐​American and Latino families make up 43 percent of all families in California, but they compose around60 percent of Californian families living in poverty and represent just12 percent of people of those in the top 10 percent of Californian incomes. Other studies have shown California had the 4th highest level of inequality of any state pre ‐​pandemic. African‐​American families are twice as likely to be at the bottom of the income distribution than at the top. Families, meanwhile, are the exact opposite; they are twice as likely to be high‐​income earners rather than low‐​income earners.And, we know that minorities have been hit especially hard during the pandemic, exacerbating existing inequality further.This, despite the fact that California has one of the most generous social safety nets in the...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs