The Fading American Dream

Parent Cafe
1

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/

Likelihood of a child born in a given year eventually earning more than his/her parents at age 30 (inflation adjusted):

1940 91.54%
1945 86.42%
1950 78.51%
1955 69.64%
1960 62.33%
1965 59.33%
1970 60.95%
1975 58.59%
1980 50.03%
1984 50.26%

Of course, the parents of the earliest cohorts were working or unemployed during the Great Depression, so the depression of their earnings made it easier for their kids to do better. However, the trend is still downward even after the period where one’s parents were adults during the Great Depression.

The next chart below shows that, for those born in 1940, only those born to the top 1% had a less than 50% chance of exceeding their parents’ income (41.1%). But in 1980, those born to the top 67% were more likely to be downward mobile than upward mobile in an absolute (not relative) sense.

2

I’m pretty sure our S is exceeding H’s income at age 30 in inflation adjusted $$.

3

Isn’t this the same discussion as:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1943654-our-kids-may-not-be-as-well-off-as-we-are-p1.html

4

My D’s 23-year-old bf earns about what I do now, after 30 plus years of practicing law. However, the rent on their apartment is 1500 more per month than my mortgage. OTOH, I pay the mortgage alone while their rent is split 3 ways.

My S earns more at his age now than I did, but I am not sure how that translates in terms of inflation, etc. However, S is a mailman and I am an attorney. I don’t know if that’s downward mobility or not since he gets a pension and should be able to retire at an earlier age that I will be able to retire at.