Upward Mobility Myth

Post Gazette

It has long been held in the US that anyone can become rich if they simply work at it. To be poor means you are lazy. There are of course many examples of rags to riches stories, but the vast majority of people remain in the same class as their parents, and new studies show that rags to riches stories are becoming much less common.

Any true follower of the idea of upward mobility would argue that the welfare system, minimum wage, and unions have made people lazier as they no longer had to work as hard to get money. However, a study of of class mobility in developed countries shows that the US has the lowest and the Nordic countries have the highest. It is strange to see that European countries where class mobility was never advocated have greater mobility. Of course, part of this is largely due to the wide gap between the rich and poor in America as compared to Europe. America not only has the highest percentage of millionaires, but also has a much higher poverty rate than in Europe. So it's much easier to go from the bottom 10% to the top 10% in Europe than in the US.