Poor health is a barrier to social mobility, and disadvantaged populations are more likely to experience poor health and poor medical care. But the relationship between economic disadvantage and health is complex and the mechanisms that underly health attitudes and behaviors in poor communities are poorly understood. Research designed to explore the mechanisms through which class, race, and gender inequalities shape health experiences and behaviors, and how these are related to poverty and social mobility would further our understanding of the social determinants of health.

Disposable income in advanced economies is comprised mostly of labor compensation. Thus, numerous compensation practices, pay-setting institutions, and regulatory policies are crucial determinants of labor market inequality. But when it comes to understanding public preferences for reducing inequality, most research focuses on public support for redistribution via tax and transfer policies. Minimum wage policies are an exception, but they are rarely included in national surveys. And, the minimum wage is only one of many policy levers for reducing labor market inequalities.

Today, more than one in four U.S. children live in immigrant-origin households; 88 percent are American citizens.  Since 2007, the federal government has removed and detained over 300,000 people every year. Enforcement impacts extend beyond targeted individuals, as about 500,000 U.S. citizen children experienced the apprehension, detention and deportation of at least one parent between 2011 and 2013. Recent studies document the negative impacts of immigration enforcement on children in immigrant-origin families, particularly following removal of a parent.

From the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, median wages for workers without a college degree stopped growing and even declined in real terms. Wage stagnation has contributed to rising inequality, as incomes of the bottom 50 percent plateaued from 1980 to 2014, while incomes at the top continued to grow. Parts of wage stagnation are attributable to skill-biased technological changes, business cycle effects, economic globalization and a decline in labor union strength.

Few researchers have examined the perspectives of youth regarding what they think government should do about reducing poverty and inequality, promoting opportunity and other issues that are important to them. This is particularly true for low-income youth and those who reside in rural America.