High fives all around to the researchers at the Brookings Institution.
The Washington, D.C.-based think tank this week tackled a very important question: just how do people in America make it into the middle class?
It's a key question, of course, for the world's largest economy — particularly as this group has been struggling for the past two decades.
It's also a central question for GlobalPost's America the Gutted reporting project, which for the past 10 months has been investigating the long-term difficulties of the US middle class and how this economic trend is playing out around the world.
For its research, Brookings went to the root of the issue: children.
In a report titled "Pathways to the Middle Class: Balancing Personal and Public Responsibilities," Brookings asked why some children do better than others in eventually achieving middle class status.
And while there's some good news in here — 61 percent of Americans reach the middle class by middle age, Brookings says — the path is not equal for all. Moreover, the United States isn't comparing favorably around the world in this department:
Most importantly, getting into America's middle class is easier if you've been born to the right parents. And it helps — a lot — if those parents are already rich.
Here's the money quote from the report:
But there are steps that can be taken to increase these chances.
Brookings has identified six "benchmarks" to help predict whether a child will eventually reach middle class status (defined here as having family income 300 times greater than the poverty level, or $66,000 for a family of four).
Source: Brookings Institution Social Genome Project
Here's the breakdown:
1) Family formation: The trick here? Be born into a family with a "non-poor married mother," who has at least a high school diploma.
2) Early childhood: During early childhood, future middle-class you should acquire acceptable pre-reading and math chops. They also need to pick up "school appropriate" behaviors.
3) Middle childhood: Reading and math skills, as well as "social-emotional" skills, are a must.
4) Adolescence: Now graduate from high school with a grade point average above 2.5. And don't be convicted of a crime or become a parent. This isn't as easy as it sounds. Only a little more than half of Americans reach this benchmark, Brookings says.
5) Translation to adulthood: Live independently from your parents. And get a college degree.
6) Adulthood: If all goes well, you will have a family income that's at least 300 percent of the poverty level.