Income mobility

The lowest "quintile" (20%) of incomes is where most of us started out with our first job.  It often is  also the starting point for new immigrants.  So this category is always expanding with new citizens and young people joining the work force.

But while many are entering this income category, many are also leaving it.   Of poor households in 1975, an amazing 98% of them were no longer in the poor category by 1991 according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' report.

Something like 25% of those in the top income class in one year fall out of it the following year, so there's that kind of mobility between incomes too.

Scott Winship, economist with the Brookings Institution, says that about half of the children of poor parents reach middle class by the time they're 27 years old.  Probably many more do so as they get more experience in the work force.

What does this mean?  We have income mobility.  It is more than possible in America to move up if you're willing to trade off time and leisure to increase income.

Are we a bit short on inspirational stories lately?  Read about Eddie Diaz, Ron & Pam Jones, Liz Coker here, or about Juicy Couture here.