Urban Institute researchers examine gender inequalities, racial segregation, and the mutually reinforcing disparities they cause in education, housing, employment, income, and health care.
Our experts analyze race and gender gaps in student test scores, measure unequal treatment toward minorities in the housing market, and study the persistent discrimination that feeds wealth and income gaps. We also probe the unique challenges of single mothers, noncustodial fathers, and hard-to-employ young men—and evaluate the public and private programs designed to help them.
Immigration policy and reform debates test our ability to think about what's at stake when we open (and close) our doors to a diverse range of newcomers, and how ongoing immigration affects our future. As the debate on how immigrant workers and families continue to reshape the country gathers steam, the public is often misled about the challenges and opportunities stemming from policies about who can come to (and stay in) the US.
Hispanics in the United States increasingly fuel the nation's economic engine, especially as their labor-force participation grows and baby boomers retire. Yet, educational, political, residential, and cultural challenges facing Hispanic children are likely to hamper their future achievements, say contributors to Growing Up Hispanic: Health and Development of Children of Immigrants. The volume examines how neighborhood, family, school, and community affect these children's development and well-being.
The best approaches to narrowing racial, ethnic, and gender differentials in retirement wealth are outside the current employer-sponsored pension system, Barbara Butrica and Richard Johnson told the U.S. Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council. These tactics include automatic IRAs for employees, efforts to raise wages earned by blacks and Hispanics, more federal funding for training and workforce development, better educational opportunities for future workers, and more financial education for workers and students. Protecting Social Security for low-income seniors is also crucial. Their testimony presents detailed information about differences in pension coverage and wealth.
This study provides an overview of a broad range of existing measures that go beyond gross domestic product (GDP) to offer a more complete and accurate picture of how a society and its economy are faring. Based on a review of the literature and an analysis of major arguments and rationales for moving beyond GDP as a measure of national well-being, this report identifies 14 categories of national well-being. It synthesizes hundreds of indicators found in 28 reports that present alternative indices and systems of well-being into 79 indicators organized under these categories.
An estimated 3.3 million young men and women will leave high school in June with - or without - a diploma. The speed with which they secure steady employment or a seat in another classroom differs markedly by race. Black high school graduates, for instance, will take 20 percent longer than their white counterparts to land a job lasting six or more months, according to forthcoming research from the Urban Institute.
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Urban Institute researchers examine gender inequalities, racial segregation, and the mutually reinforcing disparities they cause in education, housing, employment, income, and health care. 