Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities across the U.S. economy are a personal tragedy for the millions of individuals who suffer from the emotional, psychological, and social consequences. These disparities also are an economic calamity for communities of color, for women, and indeed for all U.S. workers, their families, and their communities, resulting in a United States that is far off from its promise of equal opportunity for all.

This analysis imagines an America free of racial, ethnic, and gender disparities, where one’s skin color, ethnic origin, or gender are no obstacle to worker productivity, labor force participation, and advancement—in short, a United States of America where everyone has the same opportunity to achieve their potential.

Specifically, this analysis examines the benefits that would have been realized in 2019 of closing these racial, ethnic, and gender divides by estimating the resulting:

  • Increases in the average total earnings of women and Black, Hispanic, and Asian workers
  • Growth in Gross Domestic Product
  • Rises in tax revenues
  • Reductions in poverty
  • Improvements in the solvency of Social Security

To achieve an equal-opportunity society where there are no barriers to economic success that are the consequence of race, ethnicity, or gender disparities would obviously require tackling overt racism and sexism.

But true equal opportunity requires more than that. It involves addressing many other disparities that undermine worker productivity, such as unequal access to jobs, education, credit in the form of home mortgages and business loans, affordable child care, high-quality pre-Kindergarten, and senior care; inconsistencies in family leave and workplace policies and in treatment in the justice system; imbalances in access to healthcare and insurance; unequal exposure to damaging levels of environmental pollutants; and inadequate and unequal access to high-quality physical infrastructure, which is essential to maximizing economic efficiency.

Read the full article about the economic importance of social justice by Robert Lynch at Equitable Growth.