Understanding Racial Differences and Trends: How SIPP Can Assist

Throughout the post-World War 2 period, court decisions and laws have sought to provide black Americans with equal opportunities. Some people anticipated that racial differences in educational attainment, occupational achievement, income, and poverty would rapidly decline as a result of the civil rights revolution and the War on Poverty. While there has been substantial progress in some areas, racial differences on many indicators of social and economic status have remained large or even increased. A thorough analysis of data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation should provide useful information about (a) the persistence of racial differences in the earnings of ostensibly similar black and white workers; (b) poverty in the black community, especially the impact of govemmental transfer programs; (c) racial differences in geographic migration, especially with regard to changing economic opportunities; (d) racial differences in mortality, morbidity, and fertility; (e) the economic status of middle-class blacks and comparable whites.