August 22, 2017
Oscar Perry Abello, from Next City, focuses on statistics about Detroit’s residents, population and economy, using data from Detroit Future City’s 139 Square Miles report.
These Detroit Commuting Numbers Show Stark Inequality
Next City
By: Oscar Perry Abello
August 22, 2017
LINK
When nearly 77 percent of your city’s business owners aren’t able to grow enough to have even one employee (besides the owner), it shouldn’t be too surprising that 40 percent of your population lives below the federal poverty line of $24,339 for a family of four, including 57 percent of the children in your city.
That’s part of the challenge facing Detroit, laid out in a new report, “139 Square Miles,” from the nonprofit Detroit Future City. The report claims to be the first, comprehensive, citywide, data-driven study on the state of Detroit “without analysis or critique.” It compiles quantitative and spatial data from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners, which is conducted every five years.
Based on Census Bureau data, the report notes that just 2 percent of black-owned businesses have at least one employee besides the owner, compared to 39 percent of white-owned Detroit businesses with at least one employee besides the owner. The same Census Bureau data shows that black entrepreneurs account for 77 percent of all Detroit business owners.
Click here to read the full article.