Economic and Social Impacts of The IGRA
The overall economic impact of the IGRA on American Indian communities remains unclear. According to Census Bureau data, the inflation-adjusted income of Native Americans living on reservations grew by 83 percent from 1970 to 2000. Although much of this growth was stimulated by federal support in the 1970s, such support faded in the 1980s and 90s.
According to the U.S. Census, 24 percent of American Indian families were living in poverty in 1979. Ten years later, following the passing of the IGRA, American Indian poverty rates were at 27 percent. Similarly, the 2010 Census estimated that 26.6 percent of American Indians were below poverty level, the highest of any ethnicity. In 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that of over 4 million Native American citizens, nearly 30 percent are living in poverty, often lacking basic infrastructure.
Likewise, Native Americans continue to have the highest unemployment rates of any ethnicity in the U.S. According to the earliest report by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1982, the unemployment level of American Indians living on or near a reservation was about 31 percent. In 1987, just prior to the IGRA, unemployment was 38 percent. By 1989, the year following the enactment of the IGRA, it had increased to 40 percent. The most recent BIA report from 2005 found American Indian unemployment at a staggering 49 percent. The 2010 U.S. Census reported unemployment of Native Americans (including those living both on and off reservations) and Alaskan Natives to be 17.9 percent, tied with African American unemployment as the highest of any race in the U.S.
Read more about this topic: Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
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