Intragenerational income mobility can be measured by calculating the rate at which individuals change positions in the income distribution during their work careers. More than half of the individuals in the bottom income quintile in 1994 remained there 10 years later, and less than 4 percent reached the top quintile.
Source:
Gregory Acs and Seth Zimmerman. 2008. U.S. Intragenerational Economic Mobility From 1984 to 2004. The Urban Institute. See http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001226_intragenerational_economic_mobility.pdf.
Image Title:
Relative Mobility Out of the Bottom Income Quintile (individuals age 25 to 44)