The Uncertain Pathway from Youth to a Good Job: How Racial and Gender Bias Impede Progress toward Good Jobs

Americans share a strong belief that the country offers access to opportunity. In 2017, 82 percent of Americans said they had achieved the American Dream or were on their way to achieving it. But do all Americans--regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status--have equal access to the American Dream? This report examines racial/ethnic and gender gaps in who has a good job as a young adult. It explores how the likelihood of having a good job is affected by the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender and related opportunity gaps in: (1) educational attainment; (2) field of study; (3) occupation; (4) full-time work; (5) access to high-quality work-based learning; (6) experiences with structural racism and sexism; and (7) intergenerational wealth. These elements work together to perpetuate inequality of opportunity for young Americans. It is part of a two-report exploration of the elongated pathway to a good job. [For the companion report, "The Uncertain Pathway from Youth to a Good Job: How Limits to Educational Affordability, Work-Based Learning, and Career Counseling Impede Progress toward Good Jobs," see ED624515.]