US wealth inequality at historical highest levels along racial lines: Study

Americans are 40 percent poorer today than they were in 2007 at the start of the Great Recession and wealth inequality has widened as a result of that economic crisis, according to a new report released on Friday.

The net worth of US households fell to $81,400 in 2013, compared to $82,300 in 2010, but significantly less than the $135,700 in 2007, according to the report by Pew Research Center, a nonprofit think-tank in Washington, DC.

“The Great Recession, fueled by the crises in the housing and financial markets, was universally hard on the net worth of American families,” the report found.

But even as the economic recovery has begun to restore housing and stock prices, white households have benefited the most, widening wealth inequality along racial and ethnic lines, the Pew study found.

The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households and more than 10 times the wealth of Hispanic households in 2013. By contrast, whites had eight times the wealth of blacks and nine times the wealth of Hispanics in 2010.

“The racial and ethnic wealth gaps in 2013 are at or about their highest levels observed in the 30 years for which we have data, Pew said.

A recent global study by investment bank Credit Suisse has foreshadowed a new recession in the United States as it found wealth inequality has topped its highest level since the Great Depression.

The report written by three international economic experts put the ratio of wealth to income at an alarming level of 6.5 that is unseen since the early 1930s.