Only about 12 percent of black and Hispanic households have access to the Internet, compared to around 30 percent of all white households and 36 percent of all Asian-American households, according to a new government report. Those with annual incomes exceeding 75,000 dollars are more than 20 times more likely to have access to the Internet than households earning less than 15,000 dollars, according to the Commerce Department. Indeed, fewer than 12 percent of all families with annual incomes of less than 25,000 dollars have Internet access at home, compared to more than 60 percent of households with incomes over 75,000 dollars.
Race is a critical factor even among low-income families.
A child in a poor white family is still three times more likely to have Internet access than a child in a comparable black family and four times more likely than a child in a Hispanic family, according to the report, which is based on a survey of 48,000 US households earlier this year. That divide exists along the lines of education, income, region, and race,'' he notes, adding that ''if we want to unlock the potential of our workers, we have to close that gap.'' Vice President Al Gore, who has begun his campaign to succeed Clinton in next year's presidential elections, also has seized on the theme and is calling for an ''all-out national crusade'' to close the gap in computer and Internet access. In the 21st century, innovation and technology can be engines of opportunity, not engines of inequality,'' Gore argues. The 108-page report shows that computer ownership and Internet use has exploded in the United States over the last five years among all demographic groups. Nationwide, more than 42 percent of US households owned personal computers as of the end of 1998, up from 24.1 percent in 1994.