Black Residents See Progress, But Poverty Gap in Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Black residents in Minnesota are seeing signs of economic progress, but a wide poverty gap remains.

State Demographer Susan Brower tells reporters that U.S. Census Bureau data over the last several years show more black residents in Minnesota have jobs and health insurance and that fewer children are living in poverty.

The Census' American Community Survey shows three in 10 black residents in Minnesota live in poverty.

Census data show median earnings for black residents in Minnesota rose 14 percent to nearly $24,600 from 2015 to 2016. But black residents only earn about 60 percent of what white residents make.

The unemployment rate for black residents in Minnesota has fallen from 20 percent in 2011 to 11 percent in 2016. But that jobless rate remains about twice the unemployment rate of white people in Minnesota.