The U.S. economy improved more during President Joe Biden’s first year in office than in the first 12 months of any other president in the past 50 years. Job growth, economic growth, retail sales and business creation are all up, while unemployment and unemployment insurance claims are down significantly. While there have been challenges, President Biden’s bold leadership has continued to meet them, and across all of these metrics, conditions not only improved but exceeded expectations as the United States continues its robust recovery from the pandemic recession.

The prosperity of the U.S. economy is inescapably linked to the opportunities available to entrepreneurs and small businesses all around the country. Pervasive racial gaps in business ownership, opportunity and wealth restrain the potential of the U.S. economy. To bridge these gaps, it is important to understand the vital role that Black entrepreneurs play in the aggregate economy, the challenges they face and what public policy can do to build a fairer climate that enables Black entrepreneurs to thrive.

Despite significant improvements over the past few decades, Black Americans experience far worse economic conditions than white Americans and the population as a whole. Black workers and families lag behind other racial and ethnic groups in wealth, face ongoing disparities in income (across levels of educational attainment) and struggle to save for retirement and child care. At the same time, there have been marked progress in other measures like college and high school completion and rates of union participation. Recognizing both the progress that has been made over the last decades, as well as the challenges that remain, is essential to ensuring that every American has a positive opportunity to build and fully participate in an economy that is more inclusive and fair.