NATIVE AMERICAN POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES        pt2    1700

American Indians suffer from problems that are similar to African Americans. They have lower levels of educational attainment as previously discussed, and continued racial discrimination in the labor market. Evidence suggests that higher levels of educational attainment for Native Americans could lead to high rates of employment and an influx of higher paying jobs. In 2017, the federal government provided Native American communities with almost $23 billion in federal funding to cover costs such as: food assistance, health services, education (Kleinfield). Pew Research Center states that there are 368 federally recognized Native American reservations in 2017 and 567 federally recognized tribes, whom of which are culturally diverse and contain more than 200 different languages.

Of those identified tribes, only one-third of the American Indian population reside on a reservation or tribal lands. Additionally, tribes experience a continuation of economic hardship from a lack of available resources. When resources are not available in tribal communities or on reservations, it forces consumers to spend money elsewhere. Consumer spending/consumption is arguably the largest