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Joint Economic Committee
JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS Vice Chair - Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)

The Economic State of Black America 2020

Feb 14 2020

WASHINGTON, DC—Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, today released a new report examining recent economic progress and remaining challenges facing the Black community in America.

“The data captured in this report show significant changes affecting African Americans which include both progress and areas where significant disparities remain,” said Beyer. “In the latter category, the unemployment rate for Blacks is almost twice what it is for Whites, which is unacceptable. Closing persistent, and in some cases, growing gaps between the economic experiences of White Americans and Black Americans is vital to helping our society overcome its history of racial discrimination.”

The report shows that Black Americans have made substantial progress, for example:

  • Black college graduation rates more than doubled from 1990 to 2018.
  • By 2017, the share of Black women enrolled in college exceeded the share of White men enrolled.
  • Incarceration rates for Black Americans fell by nearly one-third between 2007 and 2017.
  • The gap in life expectancy between non-Hispanic Blacks and Whites decreased between 2006-2010, though progress since has stalled.

Yet glaring inequities persist:

  • The Black unemployment rate remains twice as high as the White unemployment rate (6.0 percent vs 3.1 percent in January 2020).
  • The median net worth for White families is nearly 10 times greater than for Black families.
  • Black households earned just 59 cents for every dollar White households earned in 2018.
  • Fewer than half of Black families own their home compared to nearly three-fourths of White families.

Congressman Beyer is currently serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Northern Virginia suburbs of the nation’s capital. In addition to his role as Vice Chair of the JEC, Beyer serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. 

Two Years of Evidence Show 2017 Tax Cuts Failed to Deliver Promised Economic Boost

Updated 1/28/2020

Jan 28 2020

In December 2017, just days before President Donald Trump signed the $1.9 trillion tax legislation that would create sweeping changes to the U.S. federal tax system, he told television viewers that “it’s going to be one of the great Christmas gifts to middle-income people.”

For several months, the president had been selling the legislation on the claim that the tax cuts would “be rocket fuel for our economy.” His claim was critical to defending against the criticism that most of the tax cuts would go to corporations and the very wealthy—supposedly, the money would ‘trickle down’ to the middle class. Unfortunately, nearly two years of evidence show that his administration's estimates were wildly wrong.

The State of Economic Progress for Black Americans

Jan 17 2020

The March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, was formally named the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Dr. King later organized the Poor People’s Campaign as a multi-racial movement for economic justice, which advocated for living wages, income support for the unemployed, improved funding for education, the right to unionize for agricultural workers and access to land and capital. Dr. King’s legacy includes his efforts to secure both civil rights and economic justice. 

More than a half-century after Dr. King’s death, important progress has been made, but for Black Americans much of the economic inequality that he fought against remains.