Wealth disparities by race grew during the pandemic, despite income gains, report shows

By CORA LEWIS
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A strong performance in financial markets, particularly an outsize gain for the stock market in 2021, helped entrench existing trends of wealth inequality during the pandemic, new data released this week show. According to a report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the real net worth of white individuals outgrew that of Black and Hispanic individuals by 30 percentage points, and 9 percentage points respectively, from the first quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2023. The period featured a remarkable level of government financial support and, after the initial shock of the pandemic, a surprisingly strong job market. But neither the government stimulus nor the improved income changed the distribution of wealth.