Wednesday, January 27, 2010
American society has become more rigid than Canada’s when it comes to advancing economically. While Americans have long believed in the notion that they can rise up from poor to rich, a report by the Pew Economic Mobility Project says it’s gotten tougher for U.S. citizens to do just that.
Compared to those living in Canada, low-income Americans are more likely to remain in the bottom rungs of society, according to research by Miles Corak, professor of economics at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. His data shows American sons of low-earning fathers are more likely to remain in the bottom tenth of earners as adults than are Canadian sons (22% vs. 16%). Also, American sons of fathers in the bottom third of the earnings distribution are less likely to make it to the top half as adults than are sons of low-earning Canadian fathers (30% vs. 38%).
Strange as it seems, considering these survey results, only 42% of Americans believe that chances for financial success are related to parental income, whereas 57% of Canadians believe that parental income is influential.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Chasing the Same Dream, Climbing Different Ladders: Economic Mobility in the United States and Canada (by Miles Corak, Pew Economic Mobility Project) (pdf)
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