Charlotte’s racial, economic disparity part of national study
“Closing the economic gap between African Americans and whites in the Charlotte metro area is slow and grinding, according to the 2017 State of Black America. The region, which includes Concord, Gastonia and Rock Hill, ranks 34th in the nation in 2017 employment equality with a 45.2 percent rating, a decrease from last year’s 45.6 percent. The region’s black jobless rate of 11.5 percent is more than twice whites’ 5.2 percent but represents an improvement over last year’s 14.7 percent unemployment. White unemployment was 6.7 percent in 2016. ‘Economic indicators and experts agree that our country continues to make progress since the Great Recession,’ wrote Michael Neidorff, chair of the Urban League board and chairman of Centene Corporation. ‘But for many African Americans and others in urban and low-income communities, wide gaps of inequality in income, housing, and education remain.’”