People who find a job through a parent—either at a small family-run business or a Fortune 500 company—enjoy a significant boost in earnings, new research suggests
peculiar things about income is how easily it is passed on from one generation to the next. Nearly four-in-ten American children born to parents in the top fifth of the income distribution remain in the top fifth as adults. One reason that earnings tend to persist across generations is that high-income parents pass along valuable attributes via their genes. They also tend to invest more in their children’s education, boosting their earnings potential in the labour market.
A paper by Matthew Staiger, an economist at Opportunity Insights, a research group at Harvard University, suggests that people who find a job through a parent—either at a small family-run business or a Fortune 500 company—enjoy a significant boost in earnings. Using data from America’s Census Bureau, Mr Staiger analysed the job histories of 32m people who graduated from high school between 2000 and 2013.
When Mr Staiger looked at who takes advantage of such family connections, he found that it is disproportionately those from families that are already well-off. Just 2% of children with parents at the bottom percentile of the income distribution work for a parent’s employer, compared with 7% of children with parents at the top percentile. Children from affluent families also benefit much more from such connections than those from poorer backgrounds.
America is said to be the land of opportunity. But when it comes to jobs with mum and dad, the opportunities are mainly for those at the top.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
More Americans Are Now Working Fully Remote Than 3 Months Ago, Despite Fewer WFH Job OpeningsAfter most office workers stayed home throughout 2020, reporting onsite regained its ground as the most popular way to work after April 2021, according to LinkedIn data, and has increased ever since while remote work declined.
Read more »
Black Americans ‘trade up’ to higher-paying jobs amid labour market squeeze\n\t\t\tKeep abreast of significant corporate, financial and political developments around the world.\n\t\t\tStay informed and spot emerging risks and opportunities with independent global reporting, expert\n\t\t\tcommentary and analysis you can trust.\n\t\t
Read more »
Full list of money changes and one-off payments due before end of this yearKey dates to add to your diary which could help plan your household budget over the coming months.
Read more »
The one per cent are not as clever as they think\n\t\t\tLet our global subject matter experts broaden your perspective with timely insights and opinions you\n\t\t\tcan’t find anywhere else.\n\t\t
Read more »