Economic Mobility Project In The News

• The Economist -- Upper bound AMERICANS are an optimistic lot. If there is one thing they believe in above all, it is the ability to move ahead. In poll after poll, a majority reject the notion that success is determined by forces beyond their control. In early 2009, hardly a sunny period, 71% still agreed that hard work and personal skill are the main ingredients for success. A high degree of social mobility has always defined American culture, from the work of Alexis de Tocqueville and Horatio Alger to the remarkable story of Barack Obama himself. READ MORE »
• The Progressive -- It's Time to Restore the Social Safety Net After years of punishing the poor, it’s time for Washington to repair the shredded social safety net. In the mid-1990s, President Clinton vowed to make welfare history by smothering critical economic aid programs. But it turns out that while those reforms shuffled the bureaucracy of public assistance, the structure of poverty remains firmly intact. A new analysis from the centrist Pew Economic Mobility Project shows that although the revamped programs have been effective in some respects, they have not pushed needy households toward long-term self-sufficiency. READ MORE »
• The Economist -- Marriage, mobility and race THE recession decimated many Americans, but we are all familiar with the stories of those “hit particularly hard”—the middle-aged lineman in Michigan, the construction worker in Nevada or the youth struggling to enter the labour market. Black Americans rank especially high on this dismal list. The Centre for American Progress argued that black men are becoming even more detached from the labour market (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/04/black_men_recession.html). The National Review debated the cause of the “racial recession” (http://article.nationalreview.com/430110/really-a-racial-recession/nro-symposium). The Economic Policy Institute noted (http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib241/) that black Americans had struggled to recover from the recession of 2001. READ MORE »
• In These Times -- Farewell, June Cleaver: ‘Non-Traditional Families’ and Economic Opportunity Does marriage make a difference for the economic prospects of future generations? A new study suggests the story isn't so simple. As the traditional nuclear family fades into history, we've entered the era of the “non-traditional” family: single parents, pairs of moms and dads, blended families, multi-generational households, grandparent caregivers. With a growing share of babies today born outside marriage, American society seems to be finally leaving behind the Leave it to Beaver model READ MORE »
• Washington Times -- Divorce hinders poorer children, Upward mobility hurt A new study released Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that the damage divorce does to poorer children's future economic mobility is even greater than the impact suffered from having only one parent. READ MORE »
• Boston Globe - An elusive payoff; Gains elsewhere belie a wealth gap for black families ON THE SURFACE, the American Dream for African-Americans has risen on a steady slope right into the White House. Not only did the United States elect its first black president in 2008, that was also the same year, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, that the percentage of African-Americans who live in the suburbs crossed the 50 percent mark. “Within metropolitan areas,’’ the report said, “the 2000s indicate that the nation is well on its way toward achieving greater city-suburban racial and ethnic integration.’’READ MORE »
• Testimony of HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan The Fight against Concentrated Poverty: Neighborhoods of concentrated poverty are typically marked by high crime and unemployment rates, health disparities, struggling schools and faltering civic institutions. These neighborhoods have serious negative consequences for the well-being of adults and children. Using a study that tracked 5,000 families since 1968, the Pew Economic Mobility Project found that no other factor, including parents’ education, employment, or marital status, was as important as neighborhood poverty in explaining why African-American children were so much more likely to have lower incomes than their parents as adults.READ MORE »
• Is "Undercover Boss" the Most Subversive Show on Television? Making matters even worse is the fact that while the classes are moving farther apart -- with the middle class in real danger of entirely disappearing -- mobility across the classes has declined. The American Dream is defined by the promise of economic and social mobility -- but the American Reality proves just how elusive that dream has become. Indeed, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and even the often-reviled France, have greater upward mobility than we do. READ MORE »
• The Toronto Star - A Useful Reality Check for Canadians 02/05/2010 - There is some truth to these perceptions, says Miles Corak of the University of Ottawa, one of the world's leading researchers on intergenerational mobility. But there is also a lot of myth. He just completed a study for the Pew Charitable Trusts, a family foundation in the United States, exploring the differences between the two nations. He found clear evidence that there is more economic mobility in Canada than the United States. READ MORE »
• The Ottawa Citizen - Canadians and Self-Reliance 02/01/2010 - Last summer, researchers for The Pew Charitable Trusts set out to compare the values that drive each nation. It will surprise no one that, according to the Pew survey, three quarters of Americans said that "being free to accomplish anything with hard work" is an essential component of the American Dream. What might surprise people is that virtually the same percentage of Canadians agreed that "being free to accomplish anything with hard work" is also essential to the "Canadian Dream."READ MORE »
• National Tax Journal - Income Mobility in the United States: new evidence from income tax data 01/06/2010 - Many studies have documented the long-term trend of increasing income inequality in the U.S. economy. U.S. Census data, for example, show that the share of household income of the top 20 percent of households increased from 44.1 percent in 1980 to 50.4 percent by 2005, with the share of the bottom 20 percent decreasing from 4.2 percent to 3.4 percent. (1) Similarly, Piketty and Saez (2003,2007) found that the share of income of the top 10 percent of taxpayers increased from 31.7 percent in 1960 to 44.3 percent in 2005, while the share of the top I percent increased from 8.4 percent to 17.4 percent.READ MORE »
• The Huffington Post - Advancing Economic Mobility Through Savings 12/01/2009 - The economic mobility ladder is not the same for everybody. The ascent is more arduous for some than others. Beyond personal attributes, the degree of difficulty depends on a range of characteristics, including the role of parents, educational attainment, and a variable often overlooked--the extent to which individual households can accumulate, control, and deploy assets, starting with financial savings.READ MORE »
• Philanthropy News Digest - Savings Is Key to Economic Mobility, Report Finds 11/23/2009 - More than 70 percent of children born to low-income parents with savings above the median level climb the income ladder as adults, compared to 50 percent of those whose parents are low-income and low-saving making such advances, a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project finds.READ MORE »
• WSJ: Real Time Economics - Scholars Offer 'Road Map' for Upward Mobility “There is no ‘silver bullet’ to improve economic mobility in American,” the principals of the Economic Mobility Project said. But they offered what they called “a road map” of ways to foster more upward mobility, emphasizing policies that they say are backed by strong research or hold significant promise.READ MORE »
• The American Prospect - The Graduation Gap 11/20/2009 - America needs to do a much better job of increasing its college enrollment and graduation rates, especially for less advantaged students.READ MORE »
• The Ladder - Pew Debuts "Road Map" for Improving Economic Mobility 11/09/2009 - Pew's Economic Mobility Project (EMP) released a new report today, "Renewing the American Dream: A Road Map to Enhancing Economic Mobility in America." The report comes from the Principals of the EMP, leaders from Brookings, Heritage, AEI, Urban and New America (our own Ray Boshara to be exact). READ MORE »
• Journalism Center on Children & Families - Strengthening Community Colleges' Influence on Economic Mobility 11/03/2009 - Past research conducted by Pew has suggested that obtaining a community college degree increases earnings by an average of $7,900 annually -- an earnings increase of 29 percent over those with only a high school diploma. However, despite this compelling evidence, little attention has been given to the role the nation’s community colleges play in boosting economic mobility.READ MORE »
• National Center for Policy Analysis - Higher Education and Economic Mobility 10/26/2009 - With the national unemployment rate at 9.8 percent and over 15 million Americans out of work, students about to leave high school are wondering if they will be able to get jobs that will allow them to move up the income ladder. For many of these students their best bet is to enter programs at their local community college, says Manhattan Institute fellow Diana Furchgott-Roth.READ MORE »
• Real Clear Markets - Higher Education and Economic Mobility 10/22/2009 - A new study released by the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that community colleges have the potential to help students of all academic abilities and family income levels. Enrolling in a community college and earning a two-year degree or certificate in high-return fields such as health care, computer science, or building trades, can open a pathway to well above-average-and rising-earnings.READ MORE »
• Florida Sun Sentinel - Report Advises Students to Pick High Demand Fields at Community Colleges 10/22/2009 - As the recession as left many Floridians jobless or under employed, many have been flocking to community colleges. And that’s a good choice, especially if they pick high demand career fields, a study released Tuesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts suggests.READ MORE »
• Inside Higher Ed - It's All What You Study 10/22/2009 - Tuesday, the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts released the results of a study examining the educational attainment and post-college earnings of more than 84,000 Florida students who graduated from high school in 2000 and attended a public institution in the state. Looking at the outcomes of these students, the report then attempts “to identify the most promising educational pathways to increase community college students’ economic mobility” and “the personal and institutional impediments that prevent too many community college students from getting the most from educational opportunities.”READ MORE »
• The Telegraph (UK)- British Pessimism About Social Mobility is Bringing Us Down 09/14/2009 - A similar poll conducted by the Pew Charitable Trust in the US in May found that American citizens are optimistic about upward mobility in the near future and in their children’s prospects. Just under 8 in 10 Americans for example believed it was still possible to get ahead in the current economy. The ‘glass half full, glass half empty’ cross-Atlantic divide is nothing new, but what is interesting is that the US and UK are actually extremely similar in mobility terms.READ MORE »
• The Wall Street Journal - Income Gap Shrinks in Slump at the Expense of the Wealthy 09/10/2009 - The gains at the top didn't necessarily come at the expense of others, because the economy expanded greatly after 1980, letting incomes grow across the spectrum. But those at the top end rose more rapidly. In 1980, for instance, the income of the top 5% of households was 2.86 times median incomes; by 2007, it was 3.52 times the median. In other words, the gap widened by 23%, Census data show. At the same time, the amount of mobility up and down the American income ladder has remained largely unchanged over the years, according to most academics who have studied the issue. The rate has been relatively unchanged since 1969, says the Pew Charitable Trust. READ MORE »
• U.S. News & World Report - Why We Are Still Better Off Than Our Parents 08/26/2009 - It's a question that's not so easy to answer: Plenty of 20 and 30-somethings say their parents were able to afford a first home, children, and financial security long before they even settle into a stable job. But according to a survey taken earlier this year by the Economic Mobility Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, almost six in ten respondents said their standard of living is much or somewhat better than their parents' was at the age they are now.READ MORE »
• American RadioWorks - Race and Mobility with Ianna Kachoris 08/18/2009 - Stephen Smith talks with Ianna Kachoris, a policy analyst with the Pew Charitable Trusts, on her most recent findings as part of the Economic Mobility Project.READ MORE »
• Los Angeles Times - The Value of the Neighborhood 08/03/2009 - When it comes to a child's economic future, a new study indicates that where they come from is the key factor in deciding where they're going. Forget the old nature-versus-nurture paradigm and which matters most in shaping a child's future prosperity. According to a new study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, it's not family socialization and conditions at home but the level of poverty in a neighborhood that is the strongest determinant of a child's future economic stability.READ MORE »
• NPR - Financial Sustainability Affected By Your Neighborhood? 08/03/2009 - Now, a new report suggests that the most important factor in the economic slide of middle-class families is not what you might think. It's not parental education, it's not marital status, it's their neighborhoods, so says a study published this week by the Pew Charitable Trust.READ MORE »
• The Chronicle of Higher Education - Race and Reality in a Front-Porch Encounter 08/04/2009 - According to a just-released study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, neighborhood poverty outweighed parents' education, employment, or marital status in explaining increases in black poverty. The study found that black children born between 1985 and 2000 are 10 times as likely than white children to grow up in neighborhoods with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent. The same study found that half of black children born between 1955 and 1970 in middle-class families (those with incomes of $62,000 or higher in today's dollars) grew up in high-poverty neighborhoods, while almost no white middle-income children grew up in poor areas.READ MORE »
• American University Radio - Neighborhoods and Economic Mobility 08/03/2009 - During the past forty years, African Americans have posted significant gains in average wealth and income. But researchers have found that the black middle class is still dangerously vulnerable, and more prone to downward mobility than other demographic groups. A new report suggests that economic success of individual families is intimately related to fortunes of their neighborhoods. We examine how community poverty affects individual outcomes.READ MORE »
• Charlotte Observer - A New Look at Poverty Pinpoints Neighborhoods 07/31/2009 (Archive) The study from the Pew Charitable Trusts Economic Mobility Project looked at neighborhoods, not just individuals or families. What it found was, in many ways, discouraging. But the study also points to possibilities for new approaches to solving the stubborn problem of urban poverty, especially among black Americans.READ MORE »
• The Washington Post - Neighborhoods Key to Future Income, Study Finds 07/26/2009 - Researchers have found that being raised in poor neighborhoods plays a major role in explaining why African American children from middle-income families are far more likely than white children to slip down the income ladder as adults. This week, Pew will release findings of a study that helps explain that economic fragility, pointing to the fact that middle-class blacks are far more likely than whites to live in high-poverty neighborhoods, which has a negative effect on even the better-off children raised there.READ MORE »
• The American Prospect: Tapped - The New FAFSA: Are Baby Steps Enough? 07/09/2009 - Low-income students face disadvantages in the college process long before they fill out -- or attempt to fill out -- the FAFSA. Many lack even the most basic information about the process, and often have no counselor or mentor to help them find it. A recent Economic Mobility Project study [PDF] found that at high schools serving low-income students, college counselors have caseloads of over 1,000 students. READ MORE »
• Education Week: The Cost of College 06/02/2009 - Many low-income students don’t go to college because they lack information about how to apply for the financial aid that would make it possible, according to a study by Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project. READ MORE »
• The Indianapolis Star - Colleges Answering a More Urgent Call for Financial Aid 05/27/2009 - In some cases, they are turning to private, financial aid gurus who make a living helping families navigate the often-confusing financial aid landscape -- a terrain so complicated and filled with paperwork that many students simply give up, especially low-income students, according to a recent study by the Pew Center's Economic Mobility Project.READ MORE »
• The Lakeland Ledger - Paying For College: Simplify Financial Aid 05/18/2009 - "Although in many respects the American Dream is alive and well," said John E. Morton, managing director of economic policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts, "the body of evidence tells us two important things: First, that the lowest rungs of the economic ladder in America are hardest to climb up from and, second, that a college education is the most effective asset people can possess to move ahead."READ MORE »
• Marketplace: Americans need more help to move up 05/15/2009 - Over generations, a strong American economy has lifted the boats of virtually everyone. But the American Dream has always been about more than a rising tide. It's grounded in the idea of a meritocracy where people have the ability to chart their own course -- ahead of the fleet.READ MORE »
• Inside Higher Ed - Low Income Students Unaware of Aid Options, Report Says 05/15/2009 - Many low-income students who could benefit from higher education don't apply to college because they don't know they could get financial assistance or they are intimidated by the process, says a new report, "Promoting Economic Mobility by Increasing Postsecondary Education," released Tuesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts. READ MORE »
• The Gainsville Sun - Editorial: Financial Aid Maze 05/14/2009 - The Pew Charitable Trust announced a study this week which makes the case that the very complexity of the process of applying for financial aid deters many would-be students from entering college.READ MORE »
• The Daily Beast - Hooray for Obama's 'Socialist' Budget 05/15/2009 - A recent Brookings/Pew report showed that in the U.S., 69 percent of the population agrees that "people get rewarded for intelligence and skill." That's the highest of the 25 countries they surveyed.READ MORE »
• CNN - African-American Optimism 03/25/2009 - What does the future hold for your children? Will they be better off than you are? Here's how some people answered that question. READ MORE »
• The Modesto Bee - Does Nation's Optimism Live Here? 04/13/2009 - When that happens -- when the glass surely appears to be half empty -- it's hard to have a hopeful or cheerful view. But a national survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows Americans to be precisely that -- optimistic -- when it comes to the future. READ MORE »
• Ft. Myers News Press - Editorial: Economic Optimism Still Alive in America 04/06/09 (Archive) Deluding ourselves into false optimism serves no benefit. Giving way and falling into a state of depression doesn't help, either. While partisans continue to disagree on whether Obama's initiatives will lead to recovery, few Americans believe that all is lost. At least that's the good news reported by the Economic Mobility Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts.READ MORE »
• Worcester Telegram & Gazette - A Matter of Confidence: Deep Down, America Truly is Sound 03/25/2009 - Wall Street averages staged a four-day rally that was positively bullish by recent standards, although things had cooled off by Friday afternoon. And, a poll conducted for Pew’s Economic Mobility Project showed that more than 70 percent of Americans believe they can, and eventually will, improve their family’s economic circumstances in coming years. READ MORE »
• Minnesota Public Radio - Is Populism In The Air? Don't Bet On It 03/31/2009 - "Americans have traditionally been against engaging in class warfare," says Morton, managing director of Economic Policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts. "They have been against supporting policies that are seen as attacking those who are successful and wealthy because there is this view that it might be us one day."READ MORE »
• The Star Ledger - N.J.'s Faces of the Recession: Economic Downturn Hits Home 03/31/2009 - In a recent poll commissioned by Pew Charitable Trusts, seven out of 10 people described their economic situation as only fair or poor and nearly half thought the government hurts more than it helps. However, more than 70 percent also thought things will get better.READ MORE »
• Detroit News - Amber Arellano: American Dream Still Surpasses Class Warfare 03/23/09 (Archive) Despite each sides' propaganda, most Americans are uninterested in such class-based fights -- and new research supports that. The PEW Charitable Trust finds most Americans are still relatively upbeat about their potential to reach the American dream but they want to make sure everyone has a fair chance to do that.READ MORE »
• The Atlantic Online - America, The (Jacksonian) Meritocracy 03/13/2009 - A fascinating survey released Thursday by the Pew Economic Mobility Project-one of the few million research arms of the Pew Charitable Trusts-illuminates from some fresh angles the complex American attitudes toward opportunity, fairness and government likely to shape public reaction to President Obama's sweeping agenda.READ MORE »
• Reuters - Americans retain optimism in recession 03/13/2009 - Americans remain broadly optimistic about their economic prospects in the middle of the most severe recession since World War Two, according to a survey released on Thursday. The Pew Economic Mobility Project found that despite dismal economic conditions and decades of widening income inequality, Americans still widely believe in the "American Dream": the idea that success is determined by one's willingness to work hard, not the circumstances of one's birth or other external forces.READ MORE »
• CNN - Anderson Cooper 360 03/13/2009 - President Obama is now playing the role of optimist in chief. And a new survey out tonight shows that many Americans are feeling confident about the future. We have got the results of that survey for you. (Segment 9:28-14:12)READ MORE »
• US News & World Report - Hot Docs: Healthcare Costs Put U.S. Workers and Companies at Global Disadvantage 03/13/2009 - Despite the current economic crisis and recession, Americans remain optimistic about the future. According to a poll conducted for the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project, nearly 80 percent of Americans believe it is possible to improve their economic standing and are optimistic that the economic situation for their family will improve in years to come.READ MORE »
• VOA News - Survey: Americans are Optimistic Despite Recession 03/13/2009 - A new study shows that Americans are optimistic that their economic prospects will improve within their lifetime and from one generation to the next. The survey released by the Pew Economic Mobility Project shows most Americans still believe that hard work will be rewarded regardless of family background or economic conditions.READ MORE »
• Sydney Morning Herald - Economic nightmare fails to shake belief in the American dream 03/17/2009 - Throughout the US election campaign, candidate Barack Obama exhorted his crowds to vote for him and claim back the American dream - a dream, he warned, that was slipping way from families. Post-election, the Pew Research Centre [Economic Mobility Project] decided to test whether the nation's faith in the American dream and economic mobility was wavering in the economic downturn, which has seen unemployment reach nearly 8 per cent of the workforce.READ MORE »
• Dow Jones - Shrinking the Wealth Gap 03/12/09 (Archive) A national survey released Thursday examining wealth inequality shows that Americans, by a 71% to 21% margin, are more interested in the government trying to improve their economic standing than they are in seeing income inequality addressed. The survey, conducted for Pew's Economic Mobility Project, suggests less support for President Barack Obama's call to shrink the gap between rich and poor as the U.S. struggles with a deep recession.READ MORE »
• Economist.com - American Exceptionalism 03/17/2009 American exceptionalism is surviving the economic downturn, at least according to a new piece of research for the Pew Economic Mobility Project. READ MORE »
• Huffington Post - Surveys: Americans Grip To Individualism In Economic Storm 03/17/2009 - In the face of a recession that has destroyed billions in family savings and home values, Americans remain convinced that personal initiative and hard work are the key to big rewards, and they continue to repudiate the idea of government intervention to alleviate economic inequality, according to two Pew-sponsored reports.READ MORE »
• Democracy Journal - Equality 01/16/2009 - Barack Obama’s election to the presidency highlights a profound paradox at the heart of American race relations. In 2007, a joint Pew Foundation/Brookings Institution study found that there has recently been massive inter-generational downward mobility from the black middle class.READ MORE »
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Middle class in Georgia fits into Obama's plans 12/29/2008 - Well-to-do Georgians likewise took home a bigger share of total household income last year. The top 20 percent and the richest 5 percent both increased their share of total income in 2007 from the previous year, to 50 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Those trends were mirrored nationally, where the poorest 20 percent of households now earn only 3.4 percent of total income, a 15 percent drop over two decades, according to the Economic Mobility Project, a research group supported by several foundations from across the political spectrum.READ MORE »
• The Nation - Beyond Rubinomics 12/29/2008 - Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution and John Morton of the Pew Trust computed that a typical 30-year-old male in the middle of the pack now makes less than a typical male of the same age in the 1970s, discounted for inflation. READ MORE »
• Minnesota Public Radio - Is Moving into the Middle Class a Dream Deferred? 12/10/2008 - Recent studies suggest that even in good times, Americans in the middle and lower classes largely stayed there, going back decades. What concerns economists even more is that people in the middle class tend to have a tough time recovering after recessions.READ MORE »
• The Christian Science Monitor - Can more spending revive the American Dream? 11/17/2008 - There's another reason to strive hard to return the nation to prosperity. Last week, the Pew Charitable Trust issued another report on "economic mobility" in America. Pew's research indicates that the "American dream" may not be a myth, but it is rather a weak reality. On average, poor people and their sons and daughters have difficulty in rising up the income ladder to the middle class or becoming rich.READ MORE »
• Washington Post Economy Watch - Neil Irwin's Must-Reads 11/17/2008 - Our latest report, U.S. Intragenerational Economic Mobility From 1984 to 2004: Trends and Implications, is named as one of Neil Irwin's "Must-Reads."READ MORE »
• WSJ Real Time Economics - Report Shows Stagnant Upward Mobility in U.S. 11/12/2008 - A new report by Pew’s Economic Mobility Project broke individuals up into five income brackets or quintiles and found that of those in the lowest bracket, half were still likely to be there 10 years later. It’s a trend that held true for a group studied from 1984 to 1994 and reiterated itself in a group studied from 1994 to 2004.READ MORE »
• CNN Money - The Economy: Why it feels so bad 11/10/2008 - Simply having a job is a start, but if your wages don't keep pace with inflation, you "feel" that, too. This generation is not making as much money as its fathers were, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project. READ MORE »
• USAToday - What a black president will mean for race relations 11/10/2008 - By everyone's measure, the election of an African-American president just four decades after race riots marked the tumultuous end of segregation is extraordinary. As Barack Obama noted in his victory speech Tuesday night, it is a measure of the nation's ability to reinvent itself as it strives to attain the elusive American ideal.READ MORE »
• The New York Times - A Fool's Paradise 10/07/2008 - The after-tax income of the top 1 percent of Americans rose 228 percent from the late 1970s through 2005. The story for working families over that same stretch was one of constant struggle to just stay even. As the Pew Charitable Trusts reported last year: “The earnings of men in their 30s have remained surprisingly flat over the past four decades.”READ MORE »
• South Carolina Herald - S.C. Leaders Unite on Bailout 10/04/08 (Archive) “Jobs are not the only thing Americans across this country are losing,” Clyburn told his House colleagues. “They’re losing their hold on the American dream. That dream is upward economic mobility and home ownership.”READ MORE »
• The Washington Times - Vouchers Benefit Foster Children 10/02/2008 - One of the first groups to broach the idea of using vouchers to ease education disruptions for foster children was the Maryland Public Policy Institute. That outfit articulated the idea in a 2005 paper authored by a Heritage Foundation colleague, Dan Lips. READ MORE »
• The Guardian - The Fading American Dream 09/03/2008 - Statistics bear out the true story, and the difficulty: "The 'rags to riches' story is much more common in Hollywood than on Main Street," as the authors of the Pew Charitable Trust's Economic Mobility Project concluded in a recent report. Only 6% of children born into the bottom socioeconomic quintile move to the very top quintile, the authors found, after comparing the income of parents in the late 1960s with the income of their offspring in the late 1990s and early 2000s.READ MORE »
• The Boston Globe - Down the Up Escalator 09/02/2008 - "Few barometers should motivate the next president more than the ongoing Pew Economic Mobility Project." READ MORE »
• Detroit Free Press - Soaring Home Values Help Keep Personal Debt Rising 08/18/08 (Archive) In 1949, that debt burden stood at 33.2% of disposable income. By 2005, the burden had soared to 131.8% of disposable income, according to research cited by the Economic Mobility Project, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts.READ MORE »
• The New York Times - Is Obama the End of Black Politics? 08/11/2008 - According to an analysis by Pew’s Economic Mobility Project, almost 37 percent of black families fell into one of the three top income quintiles in 2005, compared with 23 percent in 1973. At the same time, though, these black leaders are constantly confronted in their own cities and districts by blighted neighborhoods that are predominately black, places where poverty collects like standing water, breeding a host of social contagions.READ MORE »
• The Plain Dealer - Black in Northeast Ohio: How African-Americans are faring 07/25/2008 - Beginning in the 1970s, both parents working became almost essential to becoming a middle-income family, said Julia B. Issacs, who authored the study comparing economic mobility among white and black families. White women poured into the workforce, securing their families' futures. Black women had been in the workforce for years but now found themselves supporting the family alone.READ MORE »
• USA Today - Debt-Squeezed Gen X Saves Little 05/19/2008 - Gen Xers also face this harsh reality: The standard of living that most of them have so far managed to achieve falls short of their own parents' standard at the same age. The median income for men now in their 30s, when adjusted for inflation, is 12% lower than what their dads earned three decades earlier, a report by the Economic Mobility Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, concluded.READ MORE »
• New York Times - Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility 02/19/2008 - Economic mobility, the chance that children of the poor or middle class will climb up the income ladder, has not changed significantly over the last three decades, a study being released on Wednesday says. The authors of the study, by scholars at the Brookings Institution in Washington and sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, warned that widening gaps in higher education between rich and poor, whites and minorities, could soon lead to a downturn in opportunities for the poorest families. READ MORE »
• Chicago Tribune - Housing mess threatens to widen income gap 02/20/2008 - “The American dream is alive if somewhat frayed,” said a summary of the latest reports that make up the project sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. “Most people are better off than their parents, but slower and less broad economic growth has made the economy more of a zero-sum game than it used to be with very high stakes for the winners.”READ MORE »
• The Washington Post - Tattered Dream: Who'll Tackle the Issue Of Upward Mobility? 11/23/2007 - The Economic Mobility Project, an ambitious research initiative led by the Pew Charitable Trusts, looked at the economic fortunes of a large group of families over time, comparing the income of parents in the late 1960s with the income of their children in the late 1990s and early 2000s.READ MORE »
• The Economist - The Greasy Ladder 11/22/2007 (Archive) The Economic Mobility Project, an arm of the impeccably non-partisan Pew Charitable Trusts, compares contemporary Americans' family income (based on surveys conducted between 1996 and 2003) with their parents' (between 1968 and 1972). Overall, the picture is cheerful. Two-thirds of Americans who were children in 1968 and are now in their 30s or 40s enjoy higher household income than their parents did then.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - The GOP's Pocketbook Issue 11/14/2007 - A series of scrupulously bipartisan new studies by the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts hints at an answer -- and the explanation is not a funk but a fact. Even in a growing economy, only about a third of Americans can be considered upwardly mobile -- meaning they will end up with more inflation-adjusted income and a higher relative economic standing than did their parents. The rest are maintaining their standing or falling behind; about one-third slip down the income scale over the course of a generation. READ MORE »
• Marketplace Morning Report - Rags to Riches Still a Fairy Tale 11/13/2008 - A report out says most people are making more money than their parents did. But it also says despite making more money, a lot of them still go from being poor children to poor adults. About 6 percent of children born into the bottom quintile rise to have family incomes in that top quintile. So it's much more likely that you'll be rags to rags than rags to riches.READ MORE »
• Christian Science Monitor - American Dream Falters 08/10/2007 - For hundreds of thousands of immigrants to the US, the American dream lives. Their families prosper, with their children becoming more affluent than they were, according to a new report. "The American engine of economic assimilation continues to be a powerful force," concludes the Pew Charitable Trust study of immigrant economic mobility.READ MORE »
• The Wall Street Journal - Blacks Trail in Growth of Income 11/13/2007 (Archive) Blacks born into the middle class in the late 1960s are far more likely than whites to earn less than their parents, a new study of economic mobility has found. The study examined how children born in the late 1960s fared in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Overall, it found that two-thirds of the adult children earned more, adjusted for inflation, than their parents did at the same age in the late 1960s.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - Middle-Class Dream Eludes African American Families 11/13/2007 - The Pew reports found that in many ways the American dream is alive and well. Two out of three Americans are upwardly mobile, meaning they had higher incomes than their parents. About half the time, moving up meant not only that they earned more money than their parents, but also that they were better off in relation to other Americans than their parents were. READ MORE »
• The Wall Street Journal - Immigrants and Their Kids are Losing Ground Economically 07/25/2007 (Archive) If these patterns continue, it is likely that in 2030 the children of today’s immigrants “will earn substantially less than nonimmigrants… Economic hardship may persist beyond the first generation and assimilation into American society may become more difficult,” says the study, whose principal author is Ron Haskins, a scholar at the Brookings Institution.READ MORE »
• The Border Line Blog - Immigrants and Money 07/25/2007 - The economic progress of immigrants in the United States is slowing, in a trend that does not bode well for future generations, a new study says. The trend is partly due to a larger influx of immigrants with lower levels of education who earn lower wages, said the study released Wednesday by the Economic Mobility Project, an initiative of the non-partisan Pew Charitable Trusts. READ MORE »
• ABCnews.com - Wages Through the Ages: Men Earn Less Than Fathers at Same Age 05/25/2007 - A new report finds that men in their 30s make less money than their fathers did at the same age, raising questions about deeply held notions of social mobility and the realities of the American Dream. It's not just because they're typical Generation X slackers either. The study, "Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?," conducted by economists at the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Brookings Institute and several other think tanks, found that absolute mobility -- or the economic growth rate that allows a generation to improve relative to a previous generation -- has fallen. READ MORE »
• MSNBC.com - Every Generation Does Better? Don't Count On It 05/27/2007 - A generation ago, American men in their thirties had median annual incomes of about $40,000 compared with men of the same age who now make about $35,000 a year, adjusted for inflation. That’s a 12.5 percent drop between 1974 and 2004, according to the report from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project.READ MORE »
• Marketplace Morning Report - Not your father's American Dream 05/25/2007 - A new study reveals that while American men are working harder than the generation before them, they are earning less. Families are keeping pace because two-income households are now the norm. Audio interview of John E. Morton by Jeremy Hobson. READ MORE »
• NPR Day to Day - Study: Men in Their 30s Make Less Than Their Dads 05/25/2007 - Young men in their 30s in the United States are not doing as well financially as their fathers' generation did. A study released today on economic mobility shows that, on average, 30-something males make about 12 percent less than they would have 30 years ago. The report appears to challenge the conventional wisdom that each generation will do better than the one before. An audio interview with John E. Morton.READ MORE »
• Wall Street Journal - Not Your Father's Pay: Why Wages Today Are Weaker 05/25/2007 - American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers' generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers, a new study finds. The study, the first in a series on economic mobility undertaken by several prominent think tanks, also says the typical American family's income has lagged far behind productivity growth since 2000, a departure from most of the post-World War II period.READ MORE »
• Financial Times - Has The American Dream Become Almost Impossible? 03/28/2007 - Here in the US, the concept of the American Dream is elemental to the national spirit, yet recent polling suggests that more than half of Americans believe the American Dream has become impossible for most people to achieve. READ MORE »
• Editorial: Poor Kids Can Move to Higher Income Brackets - with a College Degree 02/28/2008 - A new report by the Brookings Institution is a clarion call for massive, effective reform of public education so it can do a better job of closing the income gap. "Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Mobility in America" points out that the ticket out of poverty isn't singing, rapping or tossing a football. It's a college degree. READ MORE »
• The Wall Street Journal - Pew Trust to Fund Bipartisan Study of U.S. Mobility 02/27/2007 (Archive) The Pew Charitable Trusts is expected to announce today that it is giving $2.2 million over two years to four local think tanks -- two liberal, two conservative -- in an unusual effort to forge a consensus across the political spectrum about the extent to which Americans can move up the economic ladder in their lifetimes and from one generation to the next.READ MORE »
• Arizona Republic - American Dream Still Has a Pulse A study last year by the Pew Charitable Trusts included some surprising notions about how Americans view economic mobility. On one level, the results were notable in that the vast majority of respondents, 79 percent, said they believed it was still possible for people to get ahead in the current economy, and 72 percent predicted their economic situation would be better over the next 10 years.READ MORE »