Black America doing much better than 40 years ago, says report

WASHINGTON — African Americans are doing about the same as they have in previous years as the nation rises out of recession, and much better than they did when its first “State of Black America” report came out 40 years ago, the National Urban League said Tuesday.

Education, Jobs & Justice, looks at how blacks and Hispanics have been doing in the United States over the last few years and how they were doing in 1976, the year the National Urban League began issuing its annual report.

The Urban League derives its numbers from federal agencies including the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With full equality with whites in economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement set at 100 percent, the National Urban League said this year’s equality index for blacks stands at 72.2 percent, compared with last year’s 72 percent.

Washington, D.C., and its suburbs are where blacks, whites and Hispanics have the highest median household income.