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Half of 30-Year-Olds Don't Make What Their Parents Did New study casts 'American dream' in troubled light
(Newser) – The American dream isn't dead, but it's got one foot in the grave, according to new research. The Washington Post reports that 92% of people born in 1940 earned more money at 30 years old than their parents did when they were the same age. Researchers say doing better than your parents is the American dream, economically speaking. But for people born in 1980, that percentage had dropped to 51, according to the Wall Street Journal. That means barely half of today's 30-somethings are doing better than their parents. People born in the middle class and the Midwest have seen the steepest declines. The New York Times calls it some of the "most eye-opening economics work in recent years," as well as "deeply alarming."
A slowing economy alone doesn't explain the drop-off, and researchers place the blame largely at the feet of growing inequality. Over the past 30-some years, nearly 70% of income gains went to just the richest 10% of Americans. Researchers say that if inequality had stayed where it was in 1970, 80% of today's 30-year-olds would be out-earning their parents. "We need to have more equal growth if we want to revive the American dream," researcher Raj Chetty says. Without addressing inequality, researchers say the economy would need to grow 6% annually to reverse these trends. Donald Trump is promising to grow it by 3.8% per year, though experts say it's more likely to be closer to 2%. (The American lawn, too, has seen better days.)
Now here is a link to the study. The results are pretty harrowing, particularly in the South.
"This table shows the percentage gain (or loss) in income from growing up in each of the 100 largest CZs or counties in the U.S. for children in low-income families (25th percentile)."
95 Raleigh North Carolina
97 Charlotte North Carolina
98 Greensboro North Carolina
100 Fayetteville North Carolina
So in all NC metros, young adults in their 30s simply make 12% less than their parents did when they were the same age, putting them behind all of the other top 100 largest cities in the country. NC is particularly egregious for this since its workforce is one of the most highly educated, but also one of the most exploited.
I think this is related to race more than anything. Almost all of the dark red areas are predominantly black. Unfortunately many black children don't have the best role models at home, so they end up living the same life their parents had.
I think this is related to race more than anything. Almost all of the dark red areas are predominantly black. Unfortunately many black children don't have the best role models at home, so they end up living the same life their parents had.
People aren't born acting a certain way or predisposed to character flaws based on the color of their skin.
Just like children who are raped. Or women in abusive relationships. These environments can effect people more than being born a certain color. If you think race is an issue, maybe it's time we take more policies to help enfranchise African Americans instead of keeping them locked into poor performing schools via resistricting, etc
People aren't born acting a certain way or predisposed to character flaws based on the color of their skin.
Just like children who are raped. Or women in abusive relationships. These environments can effect people more than being born a certain color. If you think race is an issue, maybe it's time we take more policies to help enfranchise African Americans instead of keeping them locked into poor performing schools via resistricting, etc
What policies do you think would enjoin African Americans to pursue the "American Dream"?
People aren't born acting a certain way or predisposed to character flaws based on the color of their skin.
Just like children who are raped. Or women in abusive relationships. These environments can effect people more than being born a certain color. If you think race is an issue, maybe it's time we take more policies to help enfranchise African Americans instead of keeping them locked into poor performing schools via resistricting, etc
Your right. Skin color has nothing to do with it. But black children in America constantly score lower in school than any other race. And generally no school = poor in the 21st century. I blame bad parenting and a lack of good role models.
Even with better schools, if black students have poor role models at home, the good schools won't make much of a difference.
This has nothing to do with race the simple answer is the TEXTILE JOBs ARE GONE. Go out eastern NC plenty of poor whites that thought they could piggy bank simple factory work all they life. All these unskilled people in the Carolinas is trying to find their way after seeing the last generation make $20-26.00 an hr doing stuff automation has replaced. This is why Eastern NC will never recover
Given that this study is particularly measuring the chances of kids born into a bottom 20% situation, I think that it's fair to say that systemic poverty continues to not be addressed in the South. I think that it's also fair to say that the South has traditionally been overrepresented in the bottom 20% nationally. I suspect that concentration of poverty creates substantial barriers to future achievement since local investment in programs to address poverty cannot be well funded because, well, there isn't any money in these communities.
It's easy to think that NC's metros are only the parts that are rapidly growing and relatively wealthy but the daily experiences of people living in places like Cary are light years away from those who live in the poorer communities oftentimes found in the stagnant peripheries of the metros. This is not to say that there isn't poverty within the more urban areas of a metro, there is. I am just saying that if the only exposure a kid has in daily life is poverty and no opportunity, how are they to even begin to think about getting out of that cycle?
Your right. Skin color has nothing to do with it. But black children in America constantly score lower in school than any other race. And generally no school = poor in the 21st century. I blame bad parenting and a lack of good role models.
Even with better schools, if black students have poor role models at home, the good schools won't make much of a difference.
But it seems like you're just stating an outcome rather than the issue.
I think this is related to race more than anything. Almost all of the dark red areas are predominantly black. Unfortunately many black children don't have the best role models at home, so they end up living the same life their parents had.
Wow...this is not a race issue, it is an America is getting too expensive issue and we cant keep up issue. COL is going up up up while wages are going steady steady steady. Places like New York and LA have been expensive with well paying jobs for a long time, but the south is finally getting a taste of that.
Charleston is a good example. The city is getting more and more expensive every day, and its getting harder and harder for lifelong residents to afford. We are still making South Carolina money, but are starting to have to pay un-South Carolina prices to live. While people up north can come down and have problem because they have the money in place.
We as a WHOLE in the South have neglected education, not just AA parents, which is a ridiculous assumption. I am an AA and both of my parents have Masters and I have a Bachelors, and we are from a working class SC city, not Buckhead Atlanta.
I've seen black, white, Hispanic, all kids all fail for the same reasons. It is a very complicated issue. The biggest is that it's just harder for Millenials than than Gen X. Bread is now $3 versus $1.50, but yet we're still making the same $X/hr as our parents. Thats more of the fault of the US government and our economy, rather than black parents...
Just look at the cost of college now versus 1980. Even after inflation, it is a gnarly difference. 90s kids have to take out more for loans than 70s kids. And we havent gotten into systematic issues, globalization issues, etc. Your assessment is not fair.
But it seems like you're just stating an outcome rather than the issue.
The issue is that African Americans frequently live in the South in areas with terrible schools, and don't have a good role model at home. This is a recipe for disaster.
Focusing on improving schools in poor areas and making sure that all students have good role models at home and in school is a step in the right direction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jandrew5
Wow...this is not a race issue, it is an America is getting too expensive issue and we cant keep up issue. COL is going up up up while wages are going steady steady steady. Places like New York and LA have been expensive with well paying jobs for a long time, but the south is finally getting a taste of that.
Charleston is a good example. The city is getting more and more expensive every day, and its getting harder and harder for lifelong residents to afford. We are still making South Carolina money, but are starting to have to pay un-South Carolina prices to live. While people up north can come down and have problem because they have the money in place.
We as a WHOLE in the South have neglected education, not just AA parents, which is a ridiculous assumption. I am an AA and both of my parents have Masters and I have a Bachelors, and we are from a working class SC city, not Buckhead Atlanta.
I've seen black, white, Hispanic, all kids all fail for the same reasons. It is a very complicated issue. The biggest is that it's just harder for Millenials than than Gen X. Bread is now $3 versus $1.50, but yet we're still making the same $X/hr as our parents. Thats more of the fault of the US government and our economy, rather than black parents...
Just look at the cost of college now versus 1980. Even after inflation, it is a gnarly difference. 90s kids have to take out more for loans than 70s kids. And we havent gotten into systematic issues, globalization issues, etc. Your assessment is not fair.
Mississippi and Alabama are VERY red on that map. The last time I checked, the COL isn't increasing rapidly there. And this map isn't about increased COL, it's just shows that the saying "you'll end up in the same boat as your parents" as being true.
If your parents are high school drop outs, statistically you have a very low chance of ever attending college.
The map certainly does show that there is a race issue. If you'll look at South Dakota, you'll notice that most of the state has very high upward mobility EXCEPT for the Indian Reservations. Clearly certain groups in America have fewer opportunities for success than others, even if they both start out at the same position earlier in life.
Are you trying to say that students in a town of 3000 residents in Nebraska (where there are few jobs besides agriculture) get a better education than a place like Charleston, SC? I honestly find that really hard to believe.
This is a race map of the United States showing the predominant race by county. It almost perfectly matches up with the map in the original post
This most certainly is a race issue. I'm not saying that it's caused by racism, but I am saying that poor black Americans raised by poor parents are far less likely to "move upwards" compared to a white student in the same situation.
Last edited by lepoisson; 12-10-2016 at 06:21 PM..
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