The recession decimated many Americans, but we are all familiar with the stories of those â??hit particularly hardâ?â??the middle-aged lineman in Michigan, the construction worker in Nevada or the youth struggling to enter the labour market. Black Americans rank especially high on this dismal list. But beneath this cyclical discussion is an even more troubling trend. In the long American quest to move up, black children fare much worse than white ones. Most notably, this is true of children of all incomes. Those born to middle-class black families are more likely to fall down the ladder than white, middle-class children. The question is why? Researchers have slowly tried to find an answer. A new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts examines a main hypothesis: family structure. Marriage is known to have positive effects on children. The children of wed parents are less likely to drop out, become pregnant as teenagers, or leave school and not get a job. Pewâ??s study, by Thomas DeLeire and Leonard Lopoo, poses two questions.
Office of Strategic Communication