Union membership lessens the ethnic wealth gap

American Progress -   Families of color experience the largest proportional gains in wealth when a union member is present, even though overall wealth remains lower than for white households. White union households have about 1.8 times the wealth of their nonunion counterparts, while the proportional differences are larger for other groups, particularly Hispanic and Black households who hold 4.6 and 3.2 times the wealth of their nonunion counterparts, respectively. Union households of other racial backgrounds hold 2.0 times the wealth of their nonunion counterparts, and similar to white families, union Asian households hold 1.8 times the wealth of their nonunion counterparts.

These larger gains are also reflected in narrower racial wealth gaps. Among nonunion households, Black families hold 20 percent of the wealth of white nonunion households, a share that nearly doubles to 36 percent among union households. For Hispanic households, this share climbs from 20 percent to 53 percent with union membership, and for families of other racial backgrounds it increases from 45 percent to 52 percent. Although gaps remain between white households and those of color, reflecting systematic racial biases in the economy, these wealth trends suggest that union membership is associated with a reduction in racial wealth disparities.