2022 E-Insights Report

Inclusive Growth and Racial Equity

In the previous section, researchers quantitatively analyzed the performance of the Tampa Bay region along the lines of economic indicators such as unemployment rate, GRP per capita, the poverty rate, and the supplemental poverty measure. These indicators depict the strength of the Tampa Bay region’s economy. However, the more important aspect is the inclusive growth. By inclusive growth, researchers mean the economic growth that is distributed fairly across different sections of the society. To this end, scholars analyzed the performance of the Tampa Bay MSA with respect to 19 other comparison MSAs along the indicators of income inequality and economic mobility.

Another important aspect of inclusive growth is the racial equity. The voice for racial equity has been growing stronger in recent times. In this section, in addition to income inequality and economic mobility and food insecurity indicators scholars also considered the variables related to racial equity indicators: The Black-White unemployment rate gap, and the Black-White poverty rate gap. The goal of the analysis is to understand how the Tampa Bay MSA is faring in terms of bridging the gap between the different social strata.