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"Closing Latino Labor Market Gap Requires Targeted Policies To End Discrimination"
By: Ryan Zamarripa

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Author's note: CAP sometimes uses "Latino," "Latina," and/or "Latinx" to refer to individuals with Latin American roots. In this issue brief, the author opted to use "Latino" when referring to this community generally.
Download the PDF here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown labor markets into a tailspin. The overall U.S. unemployment rate reached an all-time recorded high of 14.7 percent in April 2020, and weekly claims for unemployment insurance peaked at 6.2 million-nearly six times higher than any pre-pandemic level since data were first recorded. Prior to the onset of this coronavirus-generated recession, the narrative around the American economy would suggest that workers were enjoying some of the lowest unemployment rates of all times. But this aggregation hid a bleak reality of inequality in the United States: Labor market conditions for Latino workers consistently lag behind those of their non-Hispanic white counterparts. This trend, which has held since 1976 when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) first started tracking employment data by ethnicity, reveals that the Latino unemployment rate has generally remained between 1.6 and 1.9 times higher than the non-Hispanic white unemployment rate, and it has never dropped below a ratio of 1.2.
Figure 1
The persistency of this particular gap is evidence that the United States is far from achieving racial and ethnic equity in the labor market, and there exist other employment data that also point to tough conditions for Latinos. Instability, underemployment, and discrimination are common issues disproportionately afflicting Latino workers. There are several potential reasons-such as a lack of educational opportunities, occupational segregation, anti-immigrant sentiment, and discriminatory policies and practices-as to why these problems are more prevalent in the Latino community.

But no matter the causes of this disparity, strong evidence still supports the idea that endogenous factors are not responsible for the stark differences in labor market outcomes between Latino and non-Hispanic white Americans. There are systemic reasons linked to ethnic discrimination, xenophobia, and racism-not personal choices-that are preventing full employment and participation in the labor force among Latinos in this country. Fortunately, there exists a slew of targeted policy proposals that would drastically change the status quo of Latino employment outcomes.

Instability, underemployment, and discrimination

Consider first the relatively high instability facing Latino workers. A 2016 report by the BLS highlights that high levels of involuntary part-time status disproportionately harm Latino workers, especially during recession years when rates of Latinos involuntarily working part time increase much more dramatically than rates for non-Hispanic white workers.

One potential explanation for this disparity could be the nature of work in which Latinos are engaged, which tends to skew toward industries that are more seasonal and more prone to economic shocks. In 2018, Latino workers represented just 17.8 percent of the workforce overall but constituted 27.6 percent in construction; 31.6 percent in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting; and 23.8 percent in the accommodation and food services industries. These industries are more closely tied to the business cycle than the economy overall, and their higher cyclicality results in less stable employment for their workers. Latinos are overrepresented in these industries, which tend to have workers with lower levels of educational attainment, potentially due to the lower percentage of Latino workers with a college education. In 2018, 17 percent of all Latinos older than age 25 had a bachelor's degree or higher; for non-Hispanic white people, that figure was 36.3 percent.

Moreover, a relatively high percentage of the Latino workforce is foreign born, and evidence suggests that immigrant populations in the United States are not only more acutely subjected to changes in the labor market, but also face higher barriers to stable employment. A 2018 paper in the IZA Journal of Development Migration found that immigrant workers' employment status is more closely tied to the business cycle than that of nonimmigrants. Using BLS Current Population Survey data to track the relationship between nativity and cyclical sensitivity in employment and labor force participation status, the study concludes that immigrant workers are the first to be fired in economic downturns. And while in 2018, 34.4 percent of U.S. residents of Hispanic or Latino origin were foreign born, this figure was only 4.8 percent for non-Hispanic white residents.
Figure 2a Figure 2b Figure 2c Figure 2d
Moreover, a 2012 paper in Social Problems, a journal that examines the intersection of issues related to race, gender, labor, the environment, and human rights, among other things, surveyed a sample population of male Latino immigrants in Durham, North Carolina. It found that they faced severe impediments to stable and consistent employment-partially as a result of the nature of the work in which those surveyed were engaged but also due to anti-immigrant sentiment and hostile employment laws.

Yet these factors cannot wholly explain the discrepancies in unemployment rates between Latino and non-Hispanic white workers. For starters, the unemployment rate for prime-age, native-born Latinos is typically higher than that for their non-Hispanic white counterparts; in 2018, the two figures were 5.3 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. And examining prime-age unemployment rates by educational attainment reveals that disparities remain. The prime-age unemployment rate for Latinos with less than a high school diploma is lower than that for non-Hispanic white people without a high school diploma, but when both cohorts have high school diplomas, their unemployment rates are nearly identical. The introduction of postsecondary education in both populations, however, leads to worse relative outcomes for Latinos. Since 2000, the average annual prime-age unemployment rate for Latinos without a high school diploma was 4 percentage points lower than that for their white counterparts. But the annual prime-age unemployment rate for Latinos with at least a bachelor's degree was actually 1.4 percentage points higher over the same time period. (see Figure 2) As Latinos become more educated, they experience increasingly poor labor market outcomes relative to their non-Hispanic white counterparts.
Figure 3
These disparities matter greatly. For starters, earnings are less stable when there is higher uncertainty in labor markets, meaning plans for the future-such as home purchases, starting a family, and retirement-become more difficult to keep. Moreover, a higher rate of employment churn can have negative long-term effects on a worker's choice to stay in the labor market, which only compounds these problems. The data bear this out: Between 2000 and 2018, the Latino prime-age labor force participation rate was at least 3 percentage points lower than the rate for non-Hispanic white people. Another metric used to describe labor market conditions, the prime-age employment-to-population ratio, has likewise historically been lower for Latinos than for non-Hispanic white workers. And although these gaps between the two groups in prime-age labor force participation rates and employment-to-population ratios have been trending toward equality, the progress in recent years has stopped. While the prime-age employment-to-population ratio gap between the two groups stood at 13.2 percentage points in 1990, it has remained slightly more than 4 percentage points since 2016.

Latinos also tend to be far less likely to work as much as they want-a sign of underemployment-than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. The Federal Reserve Board's 2019 edition of the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, which measures household economic well-being, found that underemployment disproportionately afflicts Latino households. Some 49.8 percent of Latinos surveyed expressed that they wanted to work or work more, compared with only 26.5 percent of the non-Hispanic white respondents. Among women who responded affirmatively to that question, 18.1 percent of Latinas cited child care obligations as the reason for not being able to work more, while 10.4 percent cited other family or personal obligations. Among non-Hispanic white women, those same figures were 15 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.
Table 1
Even when Latinos are employed, they are often paid far less than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. The ratio of prime-age median-wage income between the latter and the former group has remained virtually unchanged since 2000, fluctuating between 1.6 and 1.5. The ratio of average-wage income between the two groups has remained around 2 during the same period. Moreover, Latinas face a significant wage gap due to the intersecting effects of gender, ethnic, and racial biases, earning just 55 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men. And because 60.3 percent of Latina mothers are the primary or co-breadwinners for their families, Latino households rely heavily on Latina earnings to stay financially afloat. Some 3 million families in the United States are financially led by Latinas, nearly one-third of whom live below the poverty level.

Geographic disparities in labor market strength also tend to fall along ethnic lines. In February 2020, when the national unemployment rate was at a historic low of 3.5 percent, nine of the 10 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States, excluding Puerto Rico, with the highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rates were majority Latino; two were experiencing double-digit unemployment rates. The El Centro, California, MSA-with a population that was 84.6 percent Latino in 2018, the latest year for which data are available-had the highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 18.5 percent, followed by the Yuma, Arizona, MSA with a 64.3 percent Latino population and an unemployment rate of 16.4 percent. And while these areas are heavily associated with agriculture-and with it, the impacts of seasonality on employment-only in Madera, California, were more than 5 percent of all workers employed in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting sector.
Figure 4
Progress and solutions

Policymakers can completely close these gaps by developing policies that directly address the issues, such as occupational segregation and discrimination, that are likely leading to these disparities. One potential bright spot among these bleak disparities is how they have modestly improved over a longer time period. Consider, first, the ratio of overall unemployment rates between Latinos and non-Hispanic white workers. While the ratio averaged 1.7 in the 1980s and 2 in the 1990s, the 2000s saw a steady decline in the ratio, but in the 2010s, the same ratio averaged 1.5 with little to no discernible downward trend. In the same vein, both the differences in the labor force participation rates and employment-to-population ratios shrank considerably between 2000 and 2010 but have since remained largely unchanged. Thankfully, each of these positive gains has resulted from overall improvements in the Latino measurements and not backtracks in the non-Hispanic white ones. It is possible, however, that some of this is also related to the shifting patterns in the nonresponse rate to government surveys in the undocumented Latino population or the reversal of migration trends between the United States and Latin America.

The higher risk that Latino workers face in the labor market should be countered by increased social insurance, stronger enforcement of anti-discrimination legislation, and more employment training opportunities. A 2019 study by the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis examines the effects of such labor markets on worker welfare and finds that governments can offset the negative effects of volatility on vulnerable workers by "adjusting the social insurance system optimally." This includes measures such as unemployment insurance, rental assistance, and supplemental income for families with children. Conversely, the paper finds that government inaction has massive costs on the economy overall, as increased job displacement risk leads to drops in consumption among those who were displaced. As such, it is in the government's best interest to ensure that workers do not have to draw substantially from their savings during economic hardship if its ultimate goal is to provide citizens with economic stability, safety, and security.

Increasing social insurance can come in the form of more robust unemployment insurance, including providing larger payments and covering a wider range of work arrangements, such as self-employment and independent contracting. The COVID-19 employment shock has demonstrated clearly that traditional unemployment payments are not even enough to afford basic needs such as shelter and food, let alone to allow displaced workers to maintain former levels of consumption. Other programs, such as work sharing and wage subsidies, can likewise smooth the negative effects associated with high labor market volatility.

Importantly, noncitizens are not eligible for many, if not most, of the social insurance programs mentioned above, and the labor market discrepancies between Latinos and non-Hispanic white workers will not be resolved until undocumented and noncitizen workers are granted legal status. Providing a pathway to legalization and citizenship is perhaps one of the most important ways to achieve equality; it will also ensure fair wages, give voice to some of the most exploited workers, and help prevent discrimination.

Policies to increase labor force participation would also help shrink the labor market and earnings disparities between Latinos and non-Hispanic white workers overall as well as those between Latinas and non-Hispanic white men. Ensuring that all workers have access to paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave would ease the burdens that many Latinos face when managing their caregiving responsibilities while trying to participate in the labor market. Moreover, increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and eliminating the subminimum wages for tipped workers would help narrow the earnings gap, as some 33.4 percent of all Latino workers would see wage increases as a result.

Closing the gender and racial wage gaps through comprehensive equal pay legislation is also critical to raising Latinas' earnings. The Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, recommends relatively straightforward solutions to help close this gap, such as not prohibiting workers from discussing pay with colleagues, not basing pay on salary history, and making salary information public. Providing more pathways to college for Latinos and ensuring that they complete their degrees would also help shrink both the employment and earnings gaps. The Obama administration was able to improve Latino educational outcomes through a mix of policies aimed at increasing Latino college and career readiness, ending race- and ethnicity-based bullying, and cracking down on for-profit institutions that preyed on vulnerable students. Strengthening these programs, as well as making higher education more affordable for Latinos, would also help shrink the employment and earnings gaps.

Unfortunately, there is only so much that these targeted policies can do to increase Latino labor force participation and ease the transition period between jobs when so many of those making hiring and firing decisions hold discriminatory views against Latinos. As noted in the 2012 Social Problems paper on immigrant Latino employment, "The current anti-immigrant atmosphere and emphasis on employer sanctions has resulted in an extremely precarious labor market position for both legal and undocumented Hispanic immigrants, who suffer from multiple, overlapping elements of disadvantage." Moreover, higher Latino participation in the workforce means more exposure to exploitation, abuse, and discrimination, and as such, any proposals to increase labor force participation must be accompanied by other structural policies to ensure that Latino workers are amply protected. According to a 2017 collaborative study by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and NPR, 33 percent of Latinos have personally been discriminated against because of their ethnicity when applying for jobs, while 32 percent felt discriminated against when being paid equally or considered for promotions. In total, 78 percent of Latinos believe that there is discrimination against them today, 37 percent of whom believe that such discrimination is engrained in laws and government policies.

The process of shifting dominant attitudes toward Latinos in the workplace is a task that will take more than policy changes, but there are several ways to start the process of ending structural racism. For starters, strengthening worker power through increased union membership has been shown to reduce racial and ethnic inequality through increased earnings and more stable economic conditions for minorities. Passing legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would protect workers' right to strike and protest, is a good start. Lastly, a federal jobs guarantee-a program in which the government acts as an employer of last resort-would ensure that anyone willing to work would have access to a stable and well-paying job as well as increased bargaining power to counter monopsonist practices. In areas and among communities that have historically experienced high unemployment and underemployment, a targeted jobs guarantee would drastically increase labor market outcomes for Latinos and move the overall economy substantially closer to full employment.

Conclusion
Ryan Zamarripa is the associate director of Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress.
Latinos were subjected to some of the worst unemployment rates at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they continue to be disproportionately affected by both the coronavirus and the recession it generated. As of early October 2020, Latinos had the highest infection rate of any race or ethnicity in the United States: 1,984 out of every 100,000 have been infected with the coronavirus, compared with per-100,000 rates of 1,889 for African Americans and 894 for white people. More than a dozen states-including California, Texas, and Florida-registered a Latino unemployment rate of at least 14 percent in the second quarter of 2020. Latinos are more likely to live in overcrowded conditions and less likely to have access to remote work and affordable health care. In late August 2020, 44 percent of Latinos expressed difficulty in meeting household expenses; 48 percent who were behind on rent see eviction as a likely outcome; and 55 percent felt sad, depressed, or hopeless.

As this country grapples with how to rebuild the economy, lawmakers should focus on constructing one that prioritizes equality. People who are willing to work should not face disproportionate barriers to do so based on race or ethnicity, and allowing the current economic system to continue unchecked will only serve to constrain the recovery and, ultimately, the United States' economic output. Unfortunately, the relief implemented so far has not done enough. Undocumented workers, a crucial group of the American labor force, were largely excluded from the first three stimulus bills passed during this pandemic. In order to ensure a quick and equitable recovery, future negotiations must include aid for all workers. Latinos, who represent an ever-increasing share of the labor force, are too important to the American economy to continue ignoring their needs.

Endnotes

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Closing Latino Labor Market Gap Requires Targeted Policies To End Discrimination - Center for American Progress

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Author's note: CAP sometimes uses "Latino," "Latina," and/or "Latinx" to refer to individuals with Latin American roots. In this issue brief, the author opted to use "Latino" when referring to this community generally. Download the PDF here. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown labor markets into a tailspin. The overall U.S.

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"What Are Structural, Institutional, and Systemic Racism?"
By: Julian Glover &
Ken Miguel

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What are structural, institutional and systemic racism?

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In the fight for racial equality, words matter. Here are some common terms that might help you.

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"Most Think the 'American Dream' is Within Reach For Them"
By: Samantha Smith

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Despite persistently low levels of public satisfaction with the state of the nation, most Americans say they have achieved the "American dream" or are on their way to achieving it. Only about one-in-five (17%) say the American dream is "out of reach" for their family.

The American dream means different things to different people, however. Far fewer Americans say "becoming wealthy" is essential to the American dream than say the same about personal freedom and a good family life.

Overall, 36% of U.S. adults say their family has achieved the American dream, while another 46% say they are "on their way" to achieving it, according to an August survey by Pew Research Center. (The survey asked people about the "American dream," as they define it.) People who say they have already achieved the American dream are generally older, more affluent and better-educated than those who say they are on their way to achieving the American dream and those who say it's out of reach.

Whites (41%) are more likely than blacks (17%) or Hispanics (32%) to say they have achieved the American dream. But more blacks (62%) and Hispanics (51%) than whites (42%) say they are on their way to achieving it. Notably, there are no significant racial or ethnic differences in the shares who say the American dream is out of reach for their families.

The partisan differences in impressions of whether people have reached the American dream are relatively modest: 41% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they have achieved it, compared with 32% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.
Freedom of choice, family widely viewed as essential elements of American dream
While people differ on the meaning of the American dream, very few - just 11% of the public - say "being wealthy" is essential to their own view of it.

By contrast, majorities say "freedom of choice in how to live" (77%), having a good family life (70%) and retiring comfortably (60%) are essential to their view of the American dream.

Smaller shares say making valuable community contributions (48%), owning a home (43%) and having a successful career (also 43%) are essential to their view of the American dream, but relatively few (no more than 9%) say these are not important to the American dream.

However, 40% say being wealthy is not important in their vision of the American dream, by far the highest share among the seven items asked about.

There are modest educational differences in attitudes about what is essential to the American dream. For example, 87% of those with at least a four-year college degree say freedom of choice in how to live is essential, as do 82% of those with some college experience. By comparison, a smaller majority (65%) of those with no more than a high school diploma say this.

And while 15% of those with a high school education or less say becoming wealthy is essential to the American dream, fewer of those with college experience say the same (8% of college graduates and 9% of those with some college experience).

Partisanship is not a major factor in these views. Across all items, there are modest or no partisan differences in views of what is essential to the American dream.

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Most say American dream is within reach for them

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Despite persistently low levels of public satisfaction with the state of the nation, most Americans say they have achieved the "American dream" or are on their way to achieving it. Only about one-in-five (17%) say the American dream is "out of reach" for their family. The American dream means different things to different people, however.

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"Is The American Dream Still Achievable?
By: Rosemarie P.

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"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." ― James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America. The American dream, to some families, might mean pursuing a happy life with a stable job, a family, and wealth or success in life. The American dream is made possible due to equal opportunity to all. To some people, this dream isn't possible, it is just a dream. Although it's not easy to achieve the American dream, with passion, hard work and dedication, it is very possible to achieve.

The American dream is the ideal that every us citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The term was first used in 1932 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America, but even before the 1930's, the mindset of the American dream was active. The Declaration of Independence only extended the American dream to white property owners. After time, laws were added to extend these rights to women, non property owners, and slaves. In this way, the American Dream changed the course of America itself. In the 1920s, the American Dream started morphing from the right to create a better life to the desire to acquire material things. From that point, the American dream adapted throughout time, making the next generation better than the one before.

There are a lot of Americans that do not believe in the American dream, or believe that it became unachievable. These people lacking faith, believe that factors such as discrimination and unequal opportunities provide barriers to one's chance of reaching this "American dream". While others believe anything is possible with determination and overcoming obstacles. Some believe that coming from nothing and becoming insanely successful is only a myth, many have lived it, one of them is Oprah Winfrey, one of the richest women in the world. Winfrey was an orphan raised by her grandma with little money. She has overcome child abuse, rape, weight gain, depression, failed romance, and other hardships to attain her success. Oprah Winfrey symbolizes the individual who by such means rises above the torment to become one of the wealthiest and most recognized public figures in the world.

Far fewer Americans say "becoming wealthy" is essential to the American dream than say the same about personal freedom and a good family life. Overall, 36% of U.S. adults say their family has achieved the American dream, while another 46% say they are "on their way" to achieving it, according to an August survey by Pew Research Center. People who say they have already achieved the American dream are generally older, and better-educated than those who say they are on their way to achieving the American dream and those who say it's out of reach.

Whites (41%) are more likely than blacks (17%) or Hispanics (32%) to say they have achieved the American dream. But more blacks (62%) and Hispanics (51%) than whites (42%) say they are on their way to achieving it. Notably, there are no significant racial or ethnic differences in the shares who say the American dream is out of reach for their families. Millennials are wrong about the American dream, it's not dead. Though fate, chance, and luck have a lot to do with one's success, so does willpower, the control of one's behavior. It is in one's hands to shape life, seize opportunities, get an education, resist failure, set goals and ultimately become somebody.

The American dream is a dream made possible due to equal opportunity to all. If kids once living in poverty and in slums can becomes lawyers or doctors, if an immigrant can become California's governor, if handicapped kids can play basketball, if ordinary people can become extraordinary people, then the American Dream is possible.

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"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it.

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"The American Dream Is Killing Us"
Published By:
Mark Manson

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The values and beliefs that once defined the American Dream are not only no longer relevant, but they may be hurting us.

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"Is The American Dream Attainable?" By: Somari Davis, Morgan Finkelday, & Paola Sosa.

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For many years, the United States has been known for its seemingly endless opportunity. One of its most popular and appealing prospects has been the American Dream, or rather the idea that if one works hard enough he or she will be prosperous and, in turn happy. Although years have passed since the great influx of immigrants to the shores of Ellis Island, the dream still remains, but is it still attainable?

Much has changed in America, from culture to finance, yet the determination to achieve stability has remained constant. For the every day 4 person family, the average annual income is about $50,000 which is decent. Though, like most things you put your mind to, you have to start from the bottom and work your way up. This way of life tends to relate to employment. For example, starting at a job that only provides you with a minimum wage salary, which is around $9.00 per hour in the state of New York. While the typical upper class family makes about $300,000 or more a year, which means to be able to say the infamous line by Drake, "Started from the bottom now, we're here," you'd have to work about 672 hours per week between two adults on minimum wage. There aren't enough hours in a day to manage such a thing and it would be too physically demanding. In order to afford to feed a standard family of four, a family would need to pay anywhere from $146 to $289 dollars a weeks on groceries. Living life becomes very discomforting on an income so insufficient.

To those who might think it is a full proof plan to come to the Land of Opportunity, the American Dream is beginning to seem exactly what it is labeled as, merely a dream.

The American Dream is a set of ideals which promotes success and social mobility through means of hard work and dedication. This is deeply rooted in the Declaration of Independence, which states that "all men are created equal" and have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". This uniform "dream" has been achievable through the 20th century, yet is becoming more and more difficult to reach as time passes.

Higher education is essential in order to get a job nowadays; the only issue is how expensive college actually is. The tuition for North Carolina State University has increased by over 850% between the years 1977 and 2013 while minimum wage has only increased by approximately 215% during that same period of time. This considerable difference makes it nearly impossible to work in order to pay off schooling. There has also been an extensive decrease of state support for public colleges over the years. One credit at Columbia University in 1970 cost $40; a credit at Columbia in 2014 costs $1624. That is a 3960% difference over only over 44 years. If that wasn't difficult enough, the interest rates on student loans are only getting higher. This leads college students to be in debt for years after they finish their schooling.

This is not helped by the considerable wage gap between men and women. White women make $0.78 to every dollar a white man makes. This gap is even larger when you consider people of color. Black women only make $0.64 to every dollar a white man makes and Latina and Hispanic women only make $0.54. This makes it significantly more difficult for women, especially women of color, to achieve the American Dream, no matter how hard they work. Jobs also provide considerably less benefits than they once did. Benefit pensions and 401K retirement plans are becoming a thing of the past in order to cut costs for the business.

So is the American Dream a rational belief? The answer is no for the majority of Americans. This "Land of Opportunity" is failing in many ways for the generations to come and it's only getting worse.
Yes, the American Dream can be achieved.

The American dream is "the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative." So is the American dream still out there or is it now just a dream? According to a poll, 6 out of 10 Americans believe that the American dream is dead. Yet the 4 out of 10 Americans still believe the American dream is real, people just don't see it. The American dream is real but the dream has changed, it's not the same dream it was 10 or 20 years ago.

Before the American dream was having a high-paying job/ career. Now, the American dream is having the opportunity to start a career that sparks your interest, although it may not please your wallet. The American dream is to be happy with ones career. If the career that person chooses to pursue is hard to live off by, that person has to work harder and build their way up, to make their career go with their expenses. For example, if a person chooses to be an actor, they first have to study the subject so they know the material. With a lot of work, a once starving artists could find themselves walking the red carpet or even winning an Oscar. At first that person earned very little but with hard work and patience they achieved their American dream. That same person could've chosen another career to fulfill the traditional, idyllic American lifestyle,but that's not what they had in mind. They wouldn't be achieving the modern dream since it was not the dream they had intended to pursue, but the dream that is taught to equate to life success.

60 % of Americans believe that the American dream is a person that strives for a career that will earn them the most money, not happiness. The American dream that everyone was taught to seek at a young age. Many believe that this American dream is unachievable or non existent because of racial and gender inequality. A majority amount of people assume that this American dream mainly works for a white male American citizen. Another reason this American dream isn't attainable is because of how hard it is to find a job in today's world. This "American dream" shouldn't be considered as a dream because only a few can achieve it.

The American dream is attainable, it just isn't the American dream one is taught to pursue at an early age. If a person follows a career that they believe in and work hard with patience, at first they won't be "living the dream" but that person will eventually achieve the true American dream. One shouldn't follow a career that they feel they should follow because they will earn the most money in it because that isn't really a dream. Money can't buy happiness, but following your dreams can.

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No, the American Dream is unattainable. For many years, the United States has been known for its seemingly endless opportunity. One of its most popular and appealing prospects has been the American Dream, or rather the idea that if one works hard enough he or she will be prosperous and, in turn happy.

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"The Class Structure In The U.S"
Published By:  Lumen: Boundless Sociology

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Most social scientists in the U.S. agree that society is stratified into social classes. Social classes are hierarchical groupings of individuals that are usually based on wealth, educational attainment, occupation, income, or membership in a subculture or social network. Social class in the United States is a controversial issue, having many competing definitions, models, and even disagreements over its very existence.

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Every American does not have the equal opportunities to live "the American Dream" compared to others.