2022 Black Well-being Final w links for Web 11.29.22 - Flipbook - Page 36
BLACK WELL-BEING REPORT 2022
BLACK FUTURE CO-OP FUND
Our healthcare systems effectively send the message that your health care is only important if you can produce. And when we’re sick, this
translates into medical debt. Over 27% of Black people in America carry medical debt and 6.2% of those people’s debt is more than 20% of
their yearly income.86 Just this year, state legislation (SHB 1616) was passed to minimize medical debt. It expands charity care eligibility to
1 million Washingtonians, and guarantees free hospital care to an additional 1 million Washingtonians who are currently eligible for
discounted care.87
College debt
From 2011 to 2021, the percentage of Black students with a
bachelor’s degree increased from 19.9% to 21.8%.88 But four years
after graduation, as interest accumulates, the average amount of
college debt for Black students is $52,762, almost twice as much as
white graduates.89 Without the burden of student loans, it is estimated
that Black wealth would increase substantially.90
Who gets hired for the “good” jobs
Data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
shows that of the roughly 900,000 people holding top-paying
jobs across the country, about 3% were Black, even though we
make up 13% of the population. Racist recruiting, hiring, and
retention practices have ensured segregation continues in the
workplace, resulting in continued wage discrimination. It does
not take long to see how history has replicated itself ensuring
that white people, especially white men, continue to be overpaid
and overrepresented in decision-making spaces. In research that
examined 300 public corporations that had the lowest median
wages in 2020, not only did median worker wages not match
increases in inflation at more than 30% of corporations, CEO pay
increased from an average of $2.5 million to an average of $10.6
million, while median worker pay increased $3,556 to an average
of $23,968.91
Employers are still screening people out based on their
involvement with the legal system or lack of a college
degree — two places there’s plenty of data illustrating the racist
institutional practices that make up the school to prison pipeline.
We are familiar with the old narrative that employers just can’t
find qualified candidates. It is simply not true. The data show
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subjective hiring practices that reinforce racial bias.92