Blacks, Latinos see bright future

Blacks and Latinos may suffer higher rates of unemployment and have accumulated less wealth than whites in recent years yet they outpace whites when it comes to optimism about their economic future, new research released Thursday shows.

Despite suffering at a disproportionate rate from a lagging economy, ­­blacks and Latinos are significantly more likely than whites to have a positive outlook on their economic future, outpacing white optimism by the highest level since 1987, according to the new research.

Just 46 percent of white people say their family has a good chance of improving their standard of living in the United States, according to an analysis of data from The Associated Press-National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. The report uses information from the AP and NORC’s General Social Survey, a long-running biannual survey on what it’s like to live in America that is administered by the center.

The 46 percent is the lowest level of white optimism since 1987, the year the survey first began tracking optimism among races. Blacks and Latinos now have the biggest gap with whites since that year, with 71 percent of blacks and 73 percent of Hispanics expressing optimism of an improved life.

“These are two communities of great hope and faith,” said the NAACP’s Hilary Shelton. “If you think about the tradition of these two communities, they have always worked hard against the unreasonable odds to continue to maintain the faith and focus of the promise of America. More specifically, I believe that African-Americans and Latinos believe that the strategies and the initiatives that have been implemented to address the economic downturn in our communities are initiatives that have been crafted to particularly reflect our unique situation.”

The research is the most recent to reveal an increasingly changing America. The Census Bureau forecasts that whites will be a statistical minority in the U.S. by 2043 and data from AP shows four in five adults will face near-poverty or depend on social welfare programs at some point in their lives, with financial hardship growing the most among whites.

Pessimism among whites began to make its steep decline in 2007, around the beginning of the economic recession. A year later, for blacks and Latinos, confidence started to surge with the election of President Obama.

For blacks, the positive outlook isn’t just for the future; they also express a positive outlook on their current financial standing. This is the first time since 1972 that blacks reported their financial situation has improved in the last few years at a higher rate than whites. The tip occurred in 2010, when the percentage of whites reporting an improvement to their financial situation fell to 24 percent versus 30 percent for blacks.

"In the minority community, as perceptions of discrimination lessen a bit with the election of an African-American president, people see a greater ability to succeed," Mark Mellman, a veteran Democratic consultant who closely tracks voter sentiment, told the AP. "Many working-class whites, on the other hand, see dwindling opportunities as manufacturing and other jobs that once enabled them to get ahead just aren't available."

As President Obama tries to reboot his administration’s focus on the economy, saying he wants to “rebuild ladders of opportunity” and reverse income inequality, the positive outlook on the economic future among minorities is welcome news.

But while optimism is on the rise, it does little in the way of current economic growth, with the latest batch of job numbers set to release on Friday. While hiring has been somewhat steady over the past year, overall economic growth has been rocky and unemployment remains high, especially for blacks and Latinos at 13.7 and 9.1 percent respectively.

The optimism also does not reflect the decline in median income and median net worth. Since 2005 whites lost 15 percent of their net worth, compared with 43 percent for blacks according to AP.

“Barack Obama's election represented a significant crack in what had been considered an iron ceiling of opportunity for African-Americans and Hispanics in America the dire,” said Maya Rockeymoore, President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions.

“Although the relative economic position of blacks and Hispanics vis-a-vis whites across several indicators has not improved, we cannot underestimate the powerful psycho-social impact that the election of the first African-American president had for people of color who now have greater optimism that they too can achieve the American Dream.”

With Al Jazeera and The Associated Press