One of the most common routes to attaining upward mobility in the U.S. is business ownership. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, America is home to more than 33 million small businesses, and more than 5 million applications for new businesses are received every year. These include both individually-operated businesses such as sole proprietorships or single-member LLCs and firms with employees beside the owner. And this path can be quite profitable: business equity represents 34% of Americans’ wealth from nonfinancial assets, and the typical net worth of self-employed families is more than four times higher than for families that are workers.
Many Americans believe that another key ingredient for success is college attainment. Postsecondary education is strongly correlated with better employment outcomes, lower poverty rates, and higher lifetime earnings. However, as college costs have increased in recent decades, the public has become increasingly skeptical about the return on investment of a college degree.
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