Higher Income Minorities Fastest Growing Segment of Web Users

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies unveiled its long awaited research findings on minority broadband adoption and use Thursday in Washington, D.C.

The new research is part of a report, “National Minority Broadband Adoption: Comparative Trends in Adoption, Acceptance and Use,” and the findings show that broadband use is highest among those with greater levels of income or education: 94 percent of African Americans and 98 percent of Hispanics with college degrees are online, and the fastest growing group is college-educated minorities making more than $50,000 a year. At the same time, lower income groups continue to lag in their internet use.

As the economy continues to keep more people out of the workplace due to layoffs and other issues, job seekers of color are turning to the Internet in droves. 78 percent of African-Americans and 64 percent of Hispanics are using the web in their job searches, and 92 percent of people with incomes under $20,000 are job hunting on the web.

Jon Gant, Ph.D., a visiting fellow at the Joint Center and lead researcher on the project, noted that for lower income users, access to the Internet in public places like libraries is essential. “It’s proportionally more expensive for a poor family to purchase broadband services,” said Gant, meaning that without access in alternate locations, many people who could benefit most from services available online will also have the hardest time accessing that information.

While many groups have issued research on how the public uses broadband services, this is the first set to specifically compare African-Americans and Hispanics with the general population of the United States.

“This is our way to be honest about the data we see out there,” said Nicol Turner-Lee, Vice President and Director of the Joint Center’s Media and Technology Institute, describing the research as a present from the Joint Center.

Federal Communications Commissioners Blair Levin and Mignon Clyburn said research like that from the Joint Center was an important tool for their work of creating an effective national broadband plan. Clyburn called it a “key piece of the puzzle” to help understand who uses the web and how, so that they can create effective adoption methods.