Parental Job Loss and Children's Educational Attainment in Black and White Middle-Class Families. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series #10-06 [electronic resource] / Ariel Kalil and Patrick Wightman.
Objectives: We aim to understand why blacks are significantly less likely than whites to perpetuate their middle class status across generations. To do so, we focus on the potentially different associations between parental job loss and youth's educational attainment in black and white middle c...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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2010.
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| Summary: | Objectives: We aim to understand why blacks are significantly less likely than whites to perpetuate their middle class status across generations. To do so, we focus on the potentially different associations between parental job loss and youth's educational attainment in black and white middle class families. Methods: We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), following those children "born" into the survey between 1968 and 1979 and followed through age 21. We conduct multivariate regression analyses to test the association between parental job loss during childhood and youth's educational attainment by age 21. Results: We find that parental job loss is associated with a lesser likelihood of obtaining any post-secondary education for all offspring, but that the association for blacks is almost three times as strong. A substantial share of the differential impact of job loss on black and white middle class youth is explained by race differences in household wealth, long-run measures of family income, and, especially, parental experience of long-term unemployment. Conclusions: These findings highlight the fragile economic foundation of the black middle-class and suggest that intergenerational persistence of class status in this population may be highly dependent on the avoidance of common economic shocks. (Contains 4 tables, 2 figures and 11 footnotes.) [Additional funding for this paper was provided by a William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award.] |
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| Item Description: | Availability: National Poverty Center, University of Michigan. Joan and Sanford Weill Hall Suite 5100, 735 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Tel: 734-615-5312; Fax: 734-615-8047; e-mail: npcinfo@umich.edu; Web site: http://www.npc.umich.edu. Sponsoring Agency: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (DHHS). Abstractor: As Provided. Educational level discussed: Adult Education. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (35 p.) |
| Type of Computer File or Data Note: | Text (Reports, Research) |
| Preferred Citation of Described Materials Note: | National Poverty Center, University of Michigan. |