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For more than two decades, the State of Working Wisconsin has presented the workers’ perspective on the economy in the state: who is winning, and who is being left out; where is disparity growing; and what’s happening to the economic chasm separating Black and white workers in the state.
As we head into Labor Day 2023, the State of Working Wisconsin report will focus on how working people are doing and shine a continued spotlight on the state’s racial and ethnic disparities. We bring back focus on jobs, wages, and unions this year but also highlight key findings from our recent publication, Facts from the Frontline.
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Black-white Disparities
Before the COVID-19 crisis, Black-white disparities in Wisconsin were among the worst in the nation. COWS documented these disparities in our 2019 report, Race in the Heartland. As we move beyond the pandemic, we must continue to focus on recovery that addresses Wisconsin’s ever-growing racial divide.
Infant Mortality
Black babies are 3x more likely to die than white babies. The mortality rate for Black babies is the highest in the nation.
Child Poverty
One of every three Black children live in poverty, a rate that is 3.5 times higher than that of white children.
Bachelors Degrees
Whites more than twice as likely as Black Wisconsinites to hold BAs. This is the highest racial disparity in the country.
Incarceration
Black Wisconsinsites are more than 11 times more likely to be incarcerated than are their white neighbors.
Employment
85 percent of prime age whites are employed, compared to 61 percent of Black people of the same age.
Income
The median African American household annual income, $29,000, is a bit less than half the white level.
Home Ownership
More than 70 percent of white families own their homes. At the same time, just 27 percent of Black families do.
Voter Participation
In the 2016 election, 74 percent of eligible white voters showed up to the polls. Just 47 percent of eligible Black voters did.
Working Wisconsin is a project of COWS, a national think-and-do tank that promotes “high road” solutions to social problems. We present the workers’ perspective on the economy in Wisconsin.