ABSTRACT
During 1985 the United States economy continued to experience what many economic commentators regard as a satisfactory recovery. Yet, despite the continuation of this so called recovery for 36 months, the black population continues to be caught in the grips of its most severely depressed economic conditions of the post war period. In 1984, the last year for which income information is available, black family income continued to stagnate and racial inequality worsened. Black family income also varies with the number of earners in the family. Poverty and unemployment rates for blacks are at their highest levels of the post 1964 period. Since the early 1970s, the black male adult participation rate has ranged from 95 to 98% of the white male adult participation rate. The participation gap has been more marked for black teenagers with their labor market participation ranging from 63 to 72% of white teenage participation.
