US Economic Losses of 2900 Trillion Won Annually Due to Sexual and Racial Discrimination

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (Fed) has released a report stating that the United States suffered an economic loss of $2.6 trillion in 2019 alone due to discrimination based on gender and race.

In 2019, the US GDP was $21.4 trillion. This means that gender and racial discrimination reduced the US GDP by more than 10%.

The San Francisco Fed estimated how much economic cost discrimination based on gender and race in education and labor markets causes. As a result, the losses have been increasing as the racial diversity of the US grows. Although American society is becoming more diverse, these changes are not sufficiently reflected in education and labor markets.

In 1990, the loss due to discrimination was $1.9 trillion. By 2000, the loss had grown to $2.3 trillion, and there was little change until 2010, but over the past decade, the losses have increased again. The San Francisco Fed estimates that the total loss over the past 30 years amounts to $70.8 trillion.

Laura Choi, Vice President of Community Development at the San Francisco Fed, said at a meeting on the 1st, "This research shows the urgent need to eliminate discrimination," adding, "It is the right thing to do, and it is important to eliminate discrimination to maintain America's competitiveness."

The meeting, held via video conference, was organized to explore which areas the Fed should focus on more to create a more inclusive economy that shares success more fairly.

The study found that structural barriers against women still exist in the workplace, and economic compensation for minority races and women remains relatively low.

Vice President Choi said, "Eliminating gender and racial discrimination is important for a future inclusive economy," and added, "As the racial composition of the US labor market changes, this issue will become even more important."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.