Trends in Intergenerational Mobility

For more than two centuries, economic opportunity and the prospect of upward mobility have formed the bedrock upon which the American story has been anchored. Indeed, a desire to escape from the constraints of more class-based societies was the driving force luring many of our ancestors to this New World, and millions of immigrants continue to flood our borders in search of the American Dream. Americans continue to believe that all one needs to get ahead is individual effort, intelligence and skills: coming from a wealthy family is far from a necessity to achieve success and the American Dream.

Many Americans are even unconcerned about the historically high degree of economic inequality that exists in the United States today perhaps because they believe that big gaps between the rich and the poor and, increasingly, between the rich and the middle class, are offset by a high degree of economic mobility. Economic inequality, in this view, is a fact of life and not all that disturbing as long as there is constant movement out of the bottom and a fair shot at making it to the top.  In short, much of what the public believes about the fairness of the American economy is dependent on the generally accepted notion that there is a high degree of mobility in our society.

Are those beliefs justified? Is there actually a high degree of mobility in the United States? Is America still the land of opportunity? With new data and analysis, this volume addresses these questions by measuring how much economic mobility actually exists in America today.

Supporting Assets

Figure 1: Trends in Inequality of U.S. Worker Earnings and Family Income, 1937-2005
Figure 2: Income Mobility for Sons and Daughters, 1977-2000

Download the complete Trends in Intergenerational Mobility Report here.

Report Assets