New Directions for Data, Research, and Policy on Economic and Social Mobility
Posted by Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity on September 30, 2025
A new study from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine provides a forward-looking framework for data, research, and policy initiatives to boost upward mobility and better fulfill promises of opportunity and advancement for all members of U.S. society.
The study offers a variety of recommendations for an enhanced research agenda as well as updated policy prescriptions. One key recommendation: creating a National Mobility Center that could serve as a clearinghouse and resource center for statistics on and analysis of mobility trends and dynamics. Such a center, the report outlines, “could become an important hub that pushes forward much of the research agenda discussed in this report; it would make this metric of economic well-being a priority commensurate to the concern and goals of the American public.”
The report focuses on key domains that shape mobility, including early life and family; the spaces and places where people live and work; postsecondary education; and credit, wealth, and debt. It also discusses the data infrastructure needed to support an extensive research agenda on economic and social mobility.
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