Economic Mobility Project In The News

• Boston Globe - Mitt Romney's a Self-Made Man? The Globe's Farah Stockman analyzes the advantages experienced by children of wealthy parents. Her column uses EMP data to demonstrate how such advantages of parents’ wealth contribute to individuals’ remaining in the top of the income distribution.READ MORE »
• Des Moines Register - February Declared 'Opportunity in Iowa' Month 1/27/2012 - Iowa Governor Terry Branstad declares February 'Opportunity in Iowa' Month to draw attention to economic mobility.READ MORE »
• Forbes - Revisiting the American Dream: Is the U.S. Providing Fewer Opportunities to Get Ahead? 1/26/2012 - Knowledge@Whorton contributes an article that examines the U.S.'s relative performance on mobility measures, using EMP data.READ MORE »
• CBS This Morning - Study: Women New Financial Winners After Divorce 1/18/2012 - CBS's morning news show discusses a recent EMP fact sheet that showed the gap between women's economic prospects after divorce and men's has narrowed over recent decades.READ MORE »
• Atlantic Cities - Innovative State and City Government Solutions to Watch in 2012 1/17/2012 - In an overview of state and city government initiatives of interest in 2012, Atlantic Cities notes that promoting economic opportunity is a priority for Americans, according to EMP's 2011 poll.READ MORE »
• New York Times - The 1 Percent Paint a More Nuanced Portrait of the Rich 1/14/2012 - A Times report on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans notes that EMP research suggests they are very unlikely to lose their position at the top.READ MORE »
• New York Times - Bitter Politics of Envy? 1/13/2012 - Charles Blow cites EMP research that finds a disappointing lack of mobility for those at the bottom end of the income spectrum. He argues that this immobility is not a trivial issue.READ MORE »
• Fox News - Why Are So Many Americans Falling Out of the Middle Class? 1/12/2012 - Fox News's "Special Report" explores the state of America's middle class. EMP's Erin Currier explains the implications of the project's research.READ MORE »
• The Daily Beast - The Recession's Permanent Victims 1/12/2012 - David Frum notes that EMP's recent fact sheet, "Ups and Downs", indicates that if the current economic downturn mirrors past ones, many Americans will never fully recover from the income shocks they received.READ MORE »
• Slate - The Economics of Divorce 1/11/2012 - Slate's Matt Yglesias comments on a finding in EMP's recent fact sheet, "Ups and Downs", that shows the economic penalty women pay for divorce is shrinking while the penalty men pay has risen.READ MORE »
• CNN Money - Middle Class Dropouts 1/11/2012 - CNN Money reports on EMP's recent research about downward mobility from the middle class.READ MORE »
• Philanthropy News Digest - Americans Increasingly Lack Ability to Climb Economic Ladder 1/6/2012 - The Foundation Center's news digest features a recent New York Times report on economic mobility, pointing to the difficulties low-income Americans face in moving up the income ladder.READ MORE »
• TIME Moneyland - The Loss of Upward Mobility in the U.S. 1/5/2012 - TIME's Josh Sanburn considers how economic mobility may play a role in the 2012 presidential election. He cites a recent New York Times report on economic mobility and a TIME Magazine cover story on the same topic - both of which used EMP data to explore the issue.READ MORE »
• Politico - Americans Not "Movin' on Up" 1/5/2012 - Politico's '44' blog highlights a New York Times story about America's economic mobility that relied heavily on EMP research.READ MORE »
• National Review Online - Good News on Income Mobility 1/3/2012 - National Review's Veronique de Rugy uses a 2008 EMP report to challenge President Obama's recent claim that economic mobility in America is declining.READ MORE »
• New York Times - Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs 1/5/2012 - The New York Times reports that EMP research has found economic mobility for Americans to lag behind some other developed nations, in a front-page story examining mobility in America.READ MORE »
• CQ Weekly - Campaigning on the Equity Card 12/22/2011 - Joseph Schatz reports on how the theme of economic mobility could influence the 2012 elections. The article cites EMP data on relative and absolute mobility as well as and discusses the project’s polling of Americans’ core belief in equal opportunity. READ MORE »
• Washington Post - A Brainpower Revolution 12/26/2011 - The Post's Eugene Robinson lists low economic mobility as one of the big problems facing America that will require thoughtful solutions.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - The Marriage Gap Presents a Real Cost 12/18/2011 - The Post's Ruth Marcus uses EMP research to argue that since the children of divorced parents fare poorly compared to their peers, the marriage gap between rich and poor Americans is a serious problem.READ MORE »
• USA Today - Blacks, Hispanics Find Reasons for Optimism 12/16/2011 - Yolanda Young writes that despite economic troubles, black and Hispanic Americans are the most optimistic about their children's economic futures, as EMP's recent public opinion poll found.READ MORE »
• U.S. News & World Report - Do Expensive Homes Make for Wealthy Kids? 12/16/2011 - EMP's most recent report finds a relationship between the value of a family's house and their children's academic achievement, reports Danielle Kurtzleben.READ MORE »
• The American Prospect - How President Obama's Economic Message Could Backfire in 2012 12/16/2011 - The American Prospect's Jamelle Bouie uses EMP's recent public opinion poll to assess the effectiveness of President Obama's economic message.READ MORE »
• Frum Forum - What Keeps the American Dream Alive? 12/16/2011 - Frum Forum's Managing Editor examines Americans' perceptions of economic mobility using EMP's poll data.READ MORE »
• NPR - Moving On Up More Difficult in America 12/10/2011 - NPR's All Things Considered interviews EMP Manager Erin Currier, who highlights a recent EMP fact sheet showing less economic mobility in the United States than in other rich nations.READ MORE »
• Huffington Post - Poor, Homeless Students Living Out of Cars As Childhood Poverty Climbs 11/29/2011 - The Huffington Post writes that childhood poverty has increased, which is particularly troubling given EMP's recent finding that poor children of poorly educated parents have a more difficult time rising in the income ranks compared to those in other countries.READ MORE »
• NPR - Taking the Country's Pulse 11/25/2011 - On NPR's All Things Considered, David Brooks and E.J. Dionne discuss EMP's recent fact sheet comparing mobility in the US to other countries, which found disappointing results for the US.READ MORE »
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Mayflower Compact Had It Right; Today's America Doesn't 11/24/2011 - The Post-Dispatch's editorial board calls for a renewed emphasis on the "general good" and cites EMP research that shows a lack of economic mobility for those at the bottom of the income ladder.READ MORE »
• National Review Online - Incarceration and Mobility: One Pretty Big Reason We're Not Denmark 11/23/2011 - NRO's Reihan Salam cites EMP research in a blog post about incarceration's effect on economic mobility.READ MORE »
• LA Times - California's Wealth Pyramid 11/23/2011 - In an Op-Ed, Alissa Anderson and Jean Ross write that the level of inequality in California is unacceptable, and use EMP research to argue that economic mobility in the US does not make up for it.READ MORE »
• New York Times Economix Blog - Fatalism and the American Dream 11/23/2011 - The Times' Catherine Rampell looks at recent polling about the American Dream and compares it to EMP's findings.READ MORE »
• NPR - Passing on Family Wealth (audio) 11/28/2011 - KQED's "Forum with Michael Krasny" hosts a panel discussion on income mobility with EMP Manager Erin Currier. READ MORE »
• New York Times - Occupy the Agenda 11/19/2011 - The Times' Nicholas Kristof argues that the Occupy Wall Street movement should lead to policy changes to improve inequality and mobility outcomes. He cites EMP data that shows a need for improvements in mobility efforts such as early childhood education.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - Why U.S. Economic Mobility is So Low, in One Chart 11/18/2011 - The Post's Wonkblog pulls a chart from EMP's new fact sheet, "Does America Promote Mobility As Well As Other Nations?" to demonstrate why economic mobility is lower in the U.S. than in other nations.READ MORE »
• Wall Street Journal - European Children More Likely to Outperform Parents Than Americans 11/18/2011 - The Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog reports that despite Americans' belief that they can do better than their parents economically, Americans' economic futures are actually more tied to their parents' level of success than Europeans', according to a new EMP fact sheet.READ MORE »
• MSNBC - To Get Your Kids Ahead in Life, Get a College Degree 11/18/2011 - MSNBC looks at a recent EMP fact sheet showing that a parent's college degree is a major predictor of success for their children.READ MORE »
• National Review - Mobility Impaired 11/14/2011 - Brookings Fellow Scott Winship takes an in-depth look at mobility in a National Review cover story. Winship explains the difference between absolute and relative mobility and explores EMP research on both.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - The Downward Path of Upward Mobility 11/9/2011 - Fareed Zakaria uses EMP data to assess the state of upward mobility in the U.S.READ MORE »
• NPR - American Dream For Middle Class: Just A Dream? 11/6/2011 - A recent report by the research project found that one in three Americans raised in the middle class fall out of it as adults. Host Audie Cornish speaks with Erin Currier of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project about pressures on the American middle class.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - Economic Inequality is the Wrong Issue 11/3/2011 - Columnist Michael Gerson argues that economic mobility, not inequality, is the most important measure of success for the United States' economy. He uses EMP data to show a mixed record of success.READ MORE »
• CommonWealth - A Way Out of Gridlock 11/3/2011 - The Massachusetts magazine provides an overview of the Economic Mobility Project's work since its creation.READ MORE »
• Time - What Ever Happened To Upward Mobility? 11/3/2011 - In a Time cover story, Rana Foroohar uses EMP data to explore America's relative lack of economic mobility. (SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED)READ MORE »
• National Review - America the Mobile? 10/28/2011 - National Review editor Rich Lowry uses EMP data to argue that increasing mobility should be a central policy goal.READ MORE »
• LA Times - Children of Immigrants Hit an Economic Ceiling 11/1/2011 - The LA Times writes that Americans are more pessimistic about their children's economic futures, as EMP data shows.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - Paul Ryan's Frown Should Make Democrats Smile 10/30/2011 - Post columnist E.J. Dionne uses EMP research on mobility to make the case that the U.S. is not doing as well as some claim.READ MORE »
• Denver Post - Many Who Started in Middle Class Find Lifestyle Slipping Away 10/23/2011 - Nearly three out of 10 Americans, 28 percent, born in the middle class drop out of it as adults, according to a recent study on economic mobility from The Pew Charitable Trusts.READ MORE »
• Washington Post: Why Our Children’s Future No Longer Looks So Bright 10/16/2011 - The Post's Robert Samuelson uses EMP data to argue that although economic growth has masked individuals' immobility in the past, that may no longer be the case.READ MORE »
• Washington Post Wonkblog - Rick Santorum is right about Europe 10/12/2011 - The Washington Post's Brad Plumer uses EMP data to show that Europe in fact shows more upward mobility than the United States, as Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum noted in a recent debate.READ MORE »
• U.S. News & World Report - What the Recession Has Done to the Rich 10/6/2011 - Recent years have seen a change in the make-up of upwardly mobile Americans, says EMP Manager Erin Currier.READ MORE »
• Chicago Tribune - From Good Times to Bad Times 9/25/2011 - Once well off, many families sunk by the economy face once-unthinkable choices, as they join millions of others struggling to get by.READ MORE »
• The Root - How to Restore Blacks' Upward Mobility? 9/20/2011 - Saving the black middle class will require more than Obama's jobs program, says author Ellis Cose.READ MORE »
• CBS Evening News - US Median Household Income Falls 9/13/2011 - Anthony Mason finds out what the decrease in the median household income means for the average American.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - Many in U.S. Slip from Middle Class, Study Finds 9/7/2011 - Nearly one in three Americans who grew up middle-class has slipped down the income ladder as an adult, according to a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Downward mobility is most common among middle-class people who are divorced or separated from their spouses, did not attend college, scored poorly on standardized tests, or used hard drugs, the report says. READ MORE »
• NPR - Study: 33 Percent Of Americans Raised Middle Class Move Downward As Adults 9/7/2011 - The report, released yesterday, was based on a group of 12,000 participants researchers have followed since 1979. Researchers found that there are a few factors in determining who will move from middle to bottom class.READ MORE »
• Time Moneyland - The Sad, Sorry State of the Middle Class 9/8/2011 - One needs only to browse the headlines, or perhaps observe the bustling action at your neighborhood thrift store, to realize that America’s middle classes have been faring poorly lately.READ MORE »
• Atlanta Journal Constitution - Getting Housing in Order 9/14/2011 - The moribund housing industry — and the record number of foreclosures tied to it — have been critical factors in perpetuating this weak economy. READ MORE »
• Huffington Post - Middle-Class Americans Often Fall Down Economic Ladder: Study 9/7/2011 - The promise of the American dream has given many hope that they themselves could one day rise up the economic ladder. But according to a study released Tuesday, those already in financially-stable circumstances should fear falling down a few rungs too.READ MORE »
• Washington Post - Who is Falling out of the Middle Class 9/7/2011 - The big takeaway: Divorce and marriage matter, a lot. Education, or lack thereof, is pretty important, too. The picture gets blurrier with drug use: Men who use heroin are more likely to fall out of the middle class, but the effect is statistically insignificant for women. And crack use doesn’t make much of a difference for either gender. READ MORE »
• Washington Post - A Dream Still Out of Reach 8/25/2011 - The Post's Eugene Robinson notes: "The Economic Mobility Project found that if you look just at men in their 30s, they earned 12 percent less in 2004 (again, inflation-adjusted) than their fathers did at a similar age."READ MORE »
• To The Point - EMP Manager Erin Currier on Recent Mobility Poll (Audio - Begins at 24 minutes) 8/10/2011 - EMP Manager Erin Currier was a guess on NPR's To The Point, discussing EMP's recent poll that asked how Americans feel about their personal chances at moving up the income ladder and the status of the American Dream.READ MORE »
• The New Republic - The White Working Class: The Group That Will Likely Decide Obama's Fate 6/20/2011 - [Working class whites are] the group recently termed by journalist Ronald Brownstein as, “[T]he most pessimistic group in America.” In a recent Pew Economic Mobility Project poll, only one-third of working class whites thought today’s children would live better than they do, far below the levels of confidence expressed by minorities and college-educated whites. READ MORE »
• Chicago Tribune - Black Hopes vs. White Anxiety 6/12/2011 - Ronald Brownstein, political director and demographic specialist at the National Journal, recently described whites who have less than a four-year college degree as "the most pessimistic and alienated group in American society." He cited a March poll by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project in which two-thirds of blacks and Hispanics said they expected to be better off economically in 10 years. So did 55 percent of college-educated whites. But only 44 percent of non-college whites agreed. READ MORE »
• Bloomberg - Obama’s Toughest Re-Election Challenge May Come From Dearth of U.S. Jobs 6/3/2011 - The public right now is pessimistic. The proportion of Americans who believe they will be better off in 10 years dropped from 72 percent in 2009 to 54 percent this year, according to a survey by the Pew Economic Mobility Project. Fewer than half of Americans now believe their children will enjoy a higher standard of living, a centerpiece of the traditional American Dream, the March poll found. That’s down from 62 percent who thought so in 2009. READ MORE »
• NPR - Dear Job Market, Thanks For A Lousy Grad Gift 6/3/2011 - Half of those who graduated in the past five years are working in jobs that don't require college degrees, a Rutgers University survey released last month says. So what effect does this all have? For this generation, it will leave a big economic scar, says Scott Winship, a research manager on economic mobility at the Pew Charitable Trusts. READ MORE »
• CNN's Situation Room - Home Ownership Levels Are on the Decline. What Does That Say About the American Dream? 5/31/2011 - More than two-thirds of Americans say they have achieved the American Dream or will do so at some point in their lifetime according to the Pew Economic Mobility Project. But a new report out today says one crucial part of the American dream is no longer a reality for many Americans: Owning a home. READ MORE »
• USA Today - Economic Problems Stubbornly Linger 5/30/2011 - According to a Pew Charitable Trusts poll released this month, 55% of Americans still rate the national economy as poor, though that's down from 73% two years ago. Only 47% believe their kids will have a higher standard of living than they enjoy, down from 62% in 2009. READ MORE »
• National Journal - Eclipsed: Why the White Working Class is the Most Alienated and Pessimistic Group in American Society 5/27/2011 - College-educated whites make up about one-fifth of the adult population, while minorities account for a little under one-third. They are also, polls consistently tell us, the most pessimistic and alienated group in American society. The latest measure of this discontent came in a thoughtful national survey on economic opportunity released last week by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project. READ MORE »
• Huffington Post - American Dream Lives On Despite Rising Financial Insecurity 5/27/2011 - Americans, despite the uncertainty of their own personal finances, continue to have faith in that well-worn concept of an American dream. READ MORE »
• CNN's Situation Room - Does the Next Generation Have a Shot at the American Dream? 5/23/2011 - We've got huge problems with money and debt in this country right now. But despite all of this, most Americans believe the American Dream is alive and well, according to the Pew Economic Mobility Project. Sixty-eight percent of Americans say they have achieved or will achieve the American Dream. But the poll also found that less than one-third of Americans think their personal finances are excellent or good. READ MORE »
• The Wall Street Journal Real Time Economics Blog - Poll: Americans Want Government to Push Economic Mobility 5/19/2011 - An overwhelming majority of Americans want the government to help poor and middle-class Americans better their lot, but there was significant disagreement about whether or not the government was pursuing the right strategy. The poll seems to underscore a long-running truism that everyone wants to help the poor but no one agrees how to do it.READ MORE »
• CNN Money - American Dream Lives On, But Money's Tight 5/19/2011 - Americans are down in the dumps about their personal finances, but still think the American dream is alive and kicking. Only 32% of Americans consider their own personal finances excellent or good, a nine point decline from last year and 23 points lower than 2007, before the economy tanked, according to a new poll from the Pew Charitable Trusts.READ MORE »
• US News & World Report - Poll: Government Hurts Our Chances of Success 5/19/2011 - The vast majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents surveyed said that they want the government to make it easier for the poor and middle class to improve their economic outlook, but that they don’t think the government currently does a good job of doing so. Just over half of respondents said the government does more to hurt than help people trying to get ahead—a pretty harsh verdict. READ MORE »
• Politico's Morning Money: Split Views on the Economy 5/19/2011 - A new Pew study out this morning shows that while Americans are starting to feel better about the broader economy, they are still very worried about their own finances.READ MORE »
• St. Louis Beacon - Despite Continued Economic Hardship, Americans Remain Optimistic, Says Poll 5/24/2011 - Americans are feeling somewhat better about the nation's economy, even though they have grown increasingly negative about their own finances, according to a new national poll by the Pew Charitable Trusts. READ MORE »
• New York Post - Generational Gap, Gen Xers Get Short End of Boomers' Wealth 4/25/2011 - The Me Generation is living up to its name, and its sons and daughters may certainly pay the price. Generation Xers, those born to the Baby Boomers between 1960 and 1980, could be headed for economic disaster. Not only are they unlikely to get an inheritance from their aging parents -- because of their losses during the Financial Crisis -- but they will also be on the hook to pay off the mounting government debt amassed to get out of the Great Recession. READ MORE »
• The San Diego Union Tribune - 5% of populace holds 63% of US wealth 3/29/2011 - During the depth of the recession, the top 5 percent of the nation's population held two-thirds of its wealth, while the lower 80 percent held less than 13 percent of the wealth, according to a study released last week by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.READ MORE »
• The Detroit Free Press - Budget Protests Also About Fear of Losing the American Dream 3/24/2011 - The bitter fight over union pay and benefits in states such as Ohio and Wisconsin is more than a clash over an annual budget. It's a sign of a country wrestling with fundamental change as it leaves the familiar moorings of the 20th century and struggles to forge a new economic and political order. READ MORE »
• The New York Times - We Feel Rich Enough 3/22/2011 - Just one percent of Americans mention inequality when asked what is the most important problem facing the country. Why? Partly because the concentration of wealth is strikingly low by historical standards and the gap between rich and poor has not increased as much as many pundits believe. Another factor may be the relative affluence that the typical American enjoys today. READ MORE »
• The Wall Street Journal - The Unhappy Paradox of Santa-Statism 3/7/2011 - We have now seen President Obama's budget, which he says will force Washington "to live within its means, while at the same time investing in our future." That sounds great, until you see the numbers: The president's budget will increase our national debt by more than $1 trillion next year, and by more than $7 trillion in the next 10 years. So much for living within our means. READ MORE »
• St. Louis Beacon - Conversations: Social Mobility and the American Dream 2/14/2011 - The American spirit lives on. That's the gold nugget from a comprehensive research project conducted by the Economic Mobility Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Researchers talked to a wide swath of Americans in January 2009, taking into account demographics such as age, gender, race and income. Despite a stubbornly high national unemployment rate and a housing market swamped by foreclosures and underwater mortgages, the Pew researchers found that 79 percent of Americans believe it is possible "to get ahead," even as they expressed confidence that current conditions are not permanent.READ MORE »
• The Charleston Gazette - Savings Bonds are a Smart Move 1/10/2010 - The parties are over, the holiday lights are coming down and the long slog to spring has begun -- made all the drearier by having to account for last year's income and file taxes. However, there is a new bright spot in this annual ritual -- the opportunity to build savings at tax time. The federal policy to facilitate the purchase of a savings bond via a refund was set in place last tax season and has been streamlined for 2011 filings, along with the addition of the option to buy savings bonds as gifts. READ MORE »
• The Washington Post - Why Obama Weighed in on Behalf of Michael Vick 12/28/2010 - The weirdest story of the morning is President Obama's call to Jeffrey Lurie, the owner of the NFL Eagles. Two things apparently happened during the call: Obama praised the team for giving Michael Vick a second chance, and then he asked some questions about the Eagles' plans to use alternative-energy sources to power the stadium. Now the White House is spinning the call as the sort of everyday inquiry the president makes into eco-friendly architecture. "The president did place a call to Mr. Lurie to discuss plans for the use of alternative energy at Lincoln Financial Field, during which they spoke about that and other issues," Bill Burton told Mike Allen. READ MORE »
• The Washington Post - D.C. Student with Dad in Jail Starts College Scholarship for Kids Like Her 12/27/2010 - Creating a prom dress out of duct tape can earn you a college scholarship. So can a good duck call, proficiency at the game of marbles, a knack for vacuum coating or an interest in pursuing potato science. But among all the weird scholarships out there, nothing exists to help kids who have worked against tremendous odds to get to college despite having a parent locked up in prison. And that is remarkably sad. READ MORE »
• BBC - US Children Cope with Parents Behind Bars 12/21/2010 - This Christmas, more children in America than ever before will have a parent behind bars. The BBC's Zoe Conway visits a women's prison near Baltimore in Maryland to find out how one family is coping with the separation. READ MORE »
• The Gazette: Job-Seeking Ex-Cons Encouraged to Overcome Odds 11/10/2010 - Getting a job in a sputtering economy is challenging enough. Add a prison record to the mix, and “challenging” becomes next-to-impossible. “People with all types of degrees are out of work,” said Charles Brown, who did time for selling drugs and is in a community corrections program. “Once you go out there and try to get a job, who do you think they’re going to hire? They don’t want no felons or nothing.” READ MORE »
• The Huffington Post: America's Prison Epidemic Drains Economy, Doesn't Register in Unemployment Stats 09/30/2010 - The official unemployment figure of 9.6 percent is, according to a new report, "unrealistically rosy" because it doesn't account for a full 2.3 million Americans -- those serving time. And not only that: When formerly incarcerated men find work after prison, their annual earnings are 40 percent lower than if they had never been behind bars, and their prospects for upward mobility are significantly bleaker, according to a new study by the Pew Charitable Trusts (hat tip to Mike Konczal). READ MORE »
• The New York Times Economix: Jail and Jobs Incarceration reduces former inmates’ earnings by 40 percent when compared to demographically similar counterparts who have not been imprisoned, according to a new report from Pew’s Economic Policy Group and the Pew Center on the States. The report estimates that after being released, former inmates typically work nine fewer weeks a year, and their annual earnings drop to $23,500 from $39,100. Not surprisingly, given the stigmatizing effect that a criminal record can have on a job applicant’s résumé, former inmates enjoy less income mobility than counterparts who did not serve time. READ MORE »
• The Wall Street Journal - Dire Economic Prospects for Released Prisoners 09/29/2010 - What does incarceration do to the pursuit of the American Dream? That’s the question at the heart of a new report out today from Pew Charitable Trusts, based on research co-authored by professors Bruce Western of Harvard and Becky Pettit of University of Washington. READ MORE »
• Psychology Today - Does Income Inequality Threaten Economic and Social Stability? Income inequality has increased significantly in the U.S. during the current recession, perhaps more than at any time in recent history, a trend that may have significant damaging effects on the economy and social fabric. READ MORE »
• 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 06/16/2020 - 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 05/22/2010 - 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 05/21/2010 - 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 05/20/2010 - 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 05/18/2010 - 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 »
• House Financial Services Committee - Testimony of HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan 03/17/2010 - 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 »
• The Huffington Post - Is "Undercover Boss" the Most Subversive Show on Television? 03/08/2010 - 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 »
• 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 »
• 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 »
• 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 »
• 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 »
• 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 »
• 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 »