The poverty rates for Blacks have hit an all-time low under president Trump thanks to his booming economy.
American companies have been raising their pay scale as they are forced to compete for American workers. A prime example is the six meatpacking plants in Mississippi that were raided.
Now, forced to compete for workers, they have raised their starting salaries from $12 an hour to $15 an hour. Black married families have seen the poverty rate drop from 18.8 percent, down from 20.2 percent in 2015 and 23.8 percent in 2007.
Black female-headed families have seen a decrease to 31.7 percent, down from 35.7 percent in 2015 and 39.7 percent in 2007.
Table B5 on page 65 shows that poverty among married black families dropped to 18.8 percent, down from 20.2 percent in 2015 and 23.8 percent in 2007, which was the peak of the housing boom and bubble inflated by Congress and President George W. Bush’s terms.
Poverty among black female-headed families also dropped to 31.7 percent, down from 35.7 percent in 2015 and 39.7 percent in 2007.
Poverty among all black Americans dropped to 20.8 percent, down from 24.1 percent in 2015 and 24.5 percent in 2007
For comparison, black poverty is still somewhat higher than the poverty rate for all Americans, which is at 11.8 percent, and at 9.7 percent for all intact families and 26.8 percent for female-headed households.
The report does not suggest why the poverty rate is falling. But other data — including comments from industry CEOs — show that wages are gently rising as employers reluctantly begin to compete for employees in a low-immigration, tight labor economy.
Trump’s unprecedented combination of “Hire American” and economic growth policies is helping create those wage gains nationwide.
The growth policies pressure companies to hire more workers.
The “Hire American” policy suppresses the inflow of legal and illegal migrants and also blocks demands from businesses for special infusions of cheap foreign labor, such as extra refugees, asylum-seekers, visa workers, and legal immigrants.