Black-Owned Businesses Still Lag Behind

“Black businesses, even though they have been growing, have lagged behind the growth of other groups,” Thomas Boston, a professor of economics and internal affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology said.

According to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau, African-Americans are still behind their counterparts when it comes to business ownership. Though it seems the gap is gradually being bridged, it is at a much slower pace.

The survey revealed that, although Black-Americans constitute 12% of the entire U.S. population, they own only 3.3% of businesses in the U.S.A which have been in existence for the past two years and beyond.

This figure has however seen an appreciable level of increase as compared to that of 2014. The 2014 annual census survey recorded a much lower figure of 2.1%, being businesses owned by Black people with at least an employee.

Moreover, the major factor that has hindered the progress of the Black-Americans in the area of business ownership was America’s economic recession. They were the most affected by the financial meltdown. According to the Wall Street Journal, most of the Black-owned businesses were established after the 2008 economic recession.

However, the survey conducted only recognized businesses with paid employees. This means that self-owned businesses weren’t taken into account during the research.

Furthermore, the business survey revealed that out of about 5.2 million businesses sampled, white-owned businesses formed the majority with about 81% of America’s businesses. Asian and Hispanic-owned businesses formed 9.7% and 5.8% respectively.

Thomas Boston, a professor of economics and internal affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology stated that “Black businesses, even though they have been growing, have lagged behind the growth of other groups.”

On the other hand, between 2002 and 2007, Black-owned businesses increased by a higher rate of 60%, Fortune reports. This saw a drastic decline during and after 2008. This is further proving that Black-American’s are the most affected by the nation’s financial meltdown.

Also, many Black-American business owners suffer from government financial policies during recessions. When they are measures to cut down on the financial burden of the country, the most affected are the private-owned businesses which happen to be mostly Blacks.

The canker of discrimination is yet obviously present in our country. The Black-American seems to be adversely affected in every area of the system. This clearly looks like a purposed action to keep the Black person oppressed and impoverished.

Nonetheless, we have started the journey to total freedom and we will keep at it till we are fully liberated.

Source: Atlanta Blackstar