Input Stories

Children who grow up in poor communities where parents see improvements in employment—even if their own parents do not—end up economically better off in adulthood, according to the results of a new study (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: After analyzing data on Americans born from 1978 to 1992, researchers from Harvard University and the U.S. Census Bureau “found that when employment among the poor parents of children in a community improves, those children are better off economically as adults. … Outcomes also improve for children who simply grow up in a neighborhood where more parents have jobs,” according to the Journal.

• Some researchers had long expected this was the case, but the study marks the first time it has “been shown systematically.”
• The converse can be seen, too: “In places where parental employment deteriorates, the opposite happens—children do worse as adults.”

Racial differences: White children born into low-income families in 1992 were less likely to move up economically than those born in 1978, while Black children born into low-income families in 1992 were more likely to move up economically than those born in 1978.

Why it’s important: “The new research echoes the work of sociologist William Julius Wilson, who … put forward the hypothesis that it wasn’t just growing up poor, but growing up where everybody else was poor that weighed on economic prospects.”

• The findings point toward “the possibility of developing community-level interventions that help poor children in places where mobility is constrained. Employment rates, whether or not they are a deciding factor in opportunity, have the advantage of being well-measured and timely, providing an early-warning signal of where children might be at risk.”

Manufacturers say: “This research study reaffirms what many manufacturers have long understood: creating meaningful and dignified jobs can transform lives and strengthen families for generations within our communities,” said Ketchie President and Owner and NAM Small and Medium Manufacturers Group Chair Courtney Silver.