The Myth of Upward Mobility

Beth Shulman argues that for over 30 million Americans, jobs fail to help meet basic needs.

1 minute read

February 5, 2004, 10:00 AM PST

By Connie Chung


According to lawyer and author Beth Shulman, most of those living in poverty in the U.S. are the working poor. She writes: "There is a reigning American mythology that blunts any concern: that holding a low-wage job is a temporary situation, that mobility and education and time will solve whatever problem exists. The evidence, however, contradicts this myth. Most low-wage workers will never move up the ladder into the middle class....The US economy provides less mobility for low-wage earners...than the economies of France, Italy, Britain, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Sweden."

Thanks to Connie Chung

Monday, February 9, 2004 in The Nation

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