Black feminization of poverty: evidence from the U.S. cross-regional data

We explore the issue of feminization of poverty among Black women despite their much improved labor market advantages relative to White women and Black men. Black women generally possess comparable human capital and positive work ethic attributes and characteristics, and face comparable unemployment rates. One would therefore expect that their overall income levels and degree of poverty be comparable to those of their White female and Black male counterparts. The question then arises as to why Black women experience relatively higher poverty rates than White females and Black males. The work applies a simple theoretical and empirical framework utilizing Current Population Surveys (CPS) sources to analyze cross-regional U.S. data to verify the extent to which the causal factors of Black feminization of poverty can be traced to labor market attributes.