Ancestry Counts: New Data Helps Create Clearer Picture of Economic Opportunity


The right data is critical to inform effective policy solutions — but data describing the state of equity for particular racial and ethnic communities at the local level is often difficult to access. That is why the National Equity Atlas has added new racial subgroup data to its demographic and economic opportunity indicators.

The latest update better describes the incredible diversity within broad racial/ethnic groups, and can be used to develop targeted strategies to advance racial equity and inclusive growth. Now, when users go to the “detailed race/ethnicity" indicator, they can select “by ancestry” and see more detailed breakdowns of the Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latino, Native American, and White populations (e.g., Filipino, Jamaican, Puerto Rican). Users can also select “by nativity and ancestry” to get a breakdown of the share of each group who are immigrants versus U.S.-born.

These detailed racial/ethnic breakdowns have been added to several of the Atlas's economic opportunity indicators, including: median wage, unemployment, the percentage of workers making $15/hour, disconnected youth, homeownership, and educational attainment. As an example of what these data can reveal, the Atlas team will be posting a series of analyses on the “Data in Action” section of this site, beginning with today’s posts on the "disconnected youth" and "educational attainment" indicators for the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community:
 
“Asian and Pacific Islander activists and organizations have warned about the ‘model minority’ myth for decades. While the API population as a whole often fares above average on socioeconomic indicators, such metrics render invisible subgroup populations within the API community who face barriers to economic opportunities and inclusion.”
 
The National Equity Atlas team will be hosting a 30-minute live demo of the latest data release on Thursday, May 26, 2016, at 3 p.m. Eastern/12 p.m. Pacific. Please register here.
 
You can also read more about the update in today’s Next City article, “More Muscle Added to Equity Tool.”
 
Thank you!
 
The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equality (PERE)