Black Americans hurt more by inflation: report

People shop in a grocery store in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Nov. 10, 2021. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Inflation means minimum wage workers are poorer and gives workers a 2 percent pay cut, reinforcing economic disparities.

NEW YORK, March 8 (Xinhua) -- As many Black households in the United States are in the economic class of lower-income households, they get hit harder by inflation than other groups because of longstanding racial disparities, reported The Moguldom Nation on Monday.

"Sadly, though, income inequality and rising inflation can entrap lower-income households in poverty," the U.S. news portal quoted Adewale Maye, a policy analyst on race, ethnicity and the economy, as writing for the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP).

"In addition, research has shown that prices may rise more quickly for those who have lower incomes, a phenomenon called inflation inequality," added Maye.

A man fuels a car at a gas station in New York, the United States, on Oct. 13, 2021. (Xinhua)

"Inflation means minimum wage workers are poorer and gives workers a 2 percent pay cut, reinforcing economic disparities. High inflation means there are fewer opportunities to become a homeowner," said the report.

Inflation will widen the already large racial wealth gap -- white families, on average, have 10 times the wealth as Black families; 78 percent of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, and Black families are disproportionately represented in that statistic, according to the report.

Low- and middle-income households in the United States spent about 7 percent more in 2021 for the same products they bought in 2020 or 2019, an average of about 3,500 U.S. dollars, The Moguldom Nation cited an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model.