Study shows that America is a class based society - premium put on college degrees by employers

[Liberal_in_LA]

Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs

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“It’s becoming conventional wisdom that the U.S. does not have as much mobility as most other advanced countries,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will argue with that.”

One reason for the mobility gap may be the depth of American poverty, which leaves poor children starting especially far behind. Another may be the unusually large premiums that American employers pay for college degrees. Since children generally follow their parents’ educational trajectory, that premium increases the importance of family background and stymies people with less schooling.

At least five large studies in recent years have found the United States to be less mobile than comparable nations. A project led by Markus Jantti, an economist at a Swedish university, found that 42 percent of American men raised in the bottom fifth of incomes stay there as adults. That shows a level of persistent disadvantage much higher than in Denmark (25 percent) and Britain (30 percent) — a country famous for its class constraints.

Meanwhile, just 8 percent of American men at the bottom rose to the top fifth. That compares with 12 percent of the British and 14 percent of the Danes.

Despite frequent references to the United States as a classless society, about 62 percent of Americans (male and female) raised in the top fifth of incomes stay in the top two-fifths, according to research by the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Similarly, 65 percent born in the bottom fifth stay in the bottom two-fifths.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-rise-from-lower-rungs.html?_r=1&hp

[JustAnotherGen]

1. What I've believed all along

Anyone can fall out of the top - but few can get out of the bottom. Our 'boot strap' mentality is just that - mentality. It's not reality.

[xocet]

2. Thanks for posting this. n/t

[ddeclue]

3. these days even a Bachelor's isn't quite good enough.. I'm going to go to law school myself.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Liberal_in_LA.

[maggiesfarmer]

5. how do we address the education issue?

<b>Since children generally follow their parents’ educational trajectory....</b>

I don't have numbers to back this up, but I see this as one of the root causes of economic disparity. This is the kind of thing that <i> almost </i> makes me want to advocate for parental licensing. What changes need to happen to our educational system in K-12 such that children of non-college educated parents will see college as viable option? How can we teach people that taking out student loans is a long term investment that is highly likely to pay off in the long run?

This is the kind of thing that I honestly believe we can effect change on. The question is, how can we stop the proverbial "sins of the father being visited on the son"

[Fool Count]

6. I wouldn't really call it a "premium", it is rather a penalty imposed on those

who fail to get a college degree. That degree is so devalued and so easy to get nowadays
that employers automatically assume that there is something wrong with those who don't
have it and wouldn't offer them any jobs with any kind of responsibility.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. good point. And when employers are flooded with applications, college degree is easy way 2 weed out

applicants. That's why so many 'admin assist' type jobs are now filled with people with MA degrees now. People without the MA degree are perfectly capable of filling the job but get weeded out by not having degree(s).

[dmallind]

7. British data reflects a different change though

I'm in my early forties. When I left school in Britain a degree was not necessary for normal white collar corporate employment. You could get on the management track at large companies without one. The traditional professions needed degrees - doctors, lawyers, professors etc, but ICI or BA would hire and promote without one. Not any more though! At that time degrees were free to the student - who even got a stipend too - and places were allocated almost exclusively on academic merit.

Now they are approaching the American model, with degrees needed for all but the lowliest clerical jobs. Degrees are no longer free but by American standards absurdly cheap, and still mostly based on academic ability. As such the next generations in Britain have a pretty egalitarian shot at the ticket to career advancement and, the part I and my peers lacked, a clear knowledge that a degree IS the ticket. This means social mobility is available, even easy up to a point, and widely understood. Only about 20% of my peers went to university. The number now is 36%, with over 20% of the poor going. The richer classes still go at higher rates obviously, but that's down to family/peer pressure and access to better prep schools and tutors to pass those all important final secondary school exams.

I got my degree in the US, because in the UK there was at the time no need for one. That's changing, and social mobility is a side effect.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. I've got a doctorate and it never got me a job.

I have a Juris Doctor (law degree) and it hasn't even gotten me an interview as a legal assistant in the 25 years since I earned it. I also have an associate's degree and a bachelor's degree (separate from the 2 years for the associate's vocational degree).

The idea that certain degrees will automatically get you a job is false.