Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Report Finds Latino and Black Millennials ‘Financially Fragile’ Compared to White Peers

On Friday, the Young Invincibles, an advocacy ground committed to expanding economic opportunities for millennials, published a report that found disparities in financial health among white, black and Latinx young adults. The report’s author Kelly Hernandez used the term ‘Latinx’ as a gender neutral reference to the Latino population.

Research found that 12 percent of Latinx and 17 percent of black millennials are “unbanked” or do not own checking or savings accounts, compared to a mere 7 percent of their white millennials. The report notes the effects of redlining– essentially denying or avoiding providing services to a consumer because of the racial demographics of the neighborhood in which they live in—and disinvestment by the financial industry as factors responsible for this disparity.

The report also found the number of millennials who do not have credit cards is higher than that of the general public (35 percent versus 21 percent), and 67 percent of white millennials have credit cards compared to 62 percent Latinx and 60 percent of black millennials.

The largest gap can be found between white millennials and both populations of color when it comes down to emergency funds available; 73 percent of black and 65 percent of Latinx adults do not have such a fund. Millennials also make up nearly a third of payday loan consumers, with 13 percent of black and 10 percent of Latinx using loans.

The Young Invincibles report follows a January report which analyzed the financial challenges of today’s young Americans.

NBC Latino