Personal income for black Americans jumped 13 percent last year, making their spending decisions increasingly important to the U.S. economy and allowing them to keep up with technological advances, a new study suggests.
The greater earning power for many blacks led to purchases of big-ticket items such as cars, appliances and computers, according to Target Market News Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm.The company found that personal income for blacks rose to $367 billion in 1996 from $324 billion a year earlier.
"Double-digit growth in income during a period of low inflation is not only unusual, it's spectacular," said Marcus Alexis, an economics professor at Northwestern University. "It reflects the higher rate of unemployment and lower income that blacks started with and represents what a very substantial segment of the U.S. economy it has become.
"If it were a separate nation, it would be one of the 25 or so most important economically in the world," Alexis said.
The economic gains among black households also suggest that many are unlikely to be left behind as computers dominate nearly every aspect of life, he said.
Government officials have warned that the disparity of personal computer ownership between whites and Asians and blacks and Hispanics could become so large that the latter groups could be left behind.