Only 50% of Children Entering Labor Force Today Earn More Than Their Parents

For young individuals entering the labor market today, only about half of them are earning more than their parents, according to a report produced by economists from Stanford, Harvard, and the University of California.

These economists created a project called “The Equality of Opportunity,” where they track upward mobility over decades, evaluating the ability of young individuals to move up the economic ladder and achieve the “American Dream.”

The economists say that one of the defining measures of the “American Dream” is being able to achieve a higher standard of living than one’s parents were able to achieve.

The report finds that the percentage of children who are able to achieve this definition of the “American Dream” has fallen from 90 percent for those who were born in 1940 to 50 percent for children who were born in the 1980s.