Access to Education and Jobs Can Greatly Improve Lives

The more chances someone has at something, the higher probability they have to learn from mistakes and ultimately become successful at it. Therefore, giving people more opportunities to be hired for a job gives them more chances to eventually succeed. Once a candidate is hired, they can do a good job, work their way up, and continue to earn an advantageous wage. That in turn can create generational wealth, setting up their children and grandchildren to earn more than they did. Generational wealth is one of the least talked about and most important factors in the American economy: even one generation of increased income can mean better education, reduced debt, and better job opportunities for the generation that follows. We can see the fruits of this correlation between more opportunities and higher income in several different case studies over American history. For instance, affirmative action policies can start a domino effect for marginalized people that . One study found that U.S. university students admitted based on affirmative action went on to earn a higher salaries thanks to that policy. A similar trend can be seen among people with disabilities. While people who are disabled remain among the highest groups of the unemployed, studies have measured the positive effects of the passage of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). While the economic benefits of the ADA require further research, one study found that since 1990 when the ADA was first passed, income poverty among people with disabilities has declined. The opposite can also be true. Too often, women and minority groups are given a single chance to succeed. At the first sign of any mistake, they are more likely to be punished and even fired than their white male counterparts. This phenomenon sets up a trend in which people from these groups see decreased opportunities. And the research bears this out. A study from Stanford and the University of Chicago found that women in wealth management, for instance, tend to be sanctioned far harsher than their male counterparts. The researchers even found that women were 56 percent more likely to get fired after a mistake than their male colleagues.

The ties between a higher socioeconomic status and better physical and mental health have been proven time and time again. It's a complex mix of factors that lead to better health, including improved education on healthy habits and better access to preventative care. In turn, having the time to focus on eating right, reducing stress, and getting exercise gives people an overall better quality of life. Studies have found that a higher income correlates to better overall well-being. Or, as the American Psychological Association puts it: "wealth secures health." That's because having a low income correlates with a lower ability to buy nutritional food, or to have the time or money to exercise. It's also psychological: struggling to make ends meet every month puts a mental strain on people that actually damages their physical health. Research has found that the opposite is true, too: people from a lower socioeconomic class are more likely to self-report poorer health, worse self-to see a lower life expectancy, and to suffer from more chronic conditions than their counterparts from a higher socioeconomic class. Part of these poor health outcomes comes from reduced access to quality preventative care because of cost. People from a higher socieconomic class on the other hand are more likely to seek preventative treatment and to take medicines required to treat chronic illnesses. For instance, someone from a higher socioeconomic class might also suffer from diabetes, but they are more likely to be able to manage it better through diet and insulin injections both because of better education surrounding food and through access to medicines. Preventative care, too, can save someone's life and livelihood. For instance, a person with financial stability might have the health insurance and money to schedule annual or bi-annual screenings for skin cancer. Perhaps they might catch cancerous cells early and be able to have them removed immediately. Someone without access to preventative care, however, might end up developing skin cancer having to spend thousands of dollars on cancer treatments. These costly treatments might send their family into debt; lost work due to appointments could mean lost income. And catching cancer too late could potentially cost them their life. A whole host of factors can affect someone's socioeconomic class and their resulting health, from their gender and sexual orientation, to their ethnicity. "We've often chosen to focus on either ethnicity or class rather than on the interaction between the two," said Hector F. Myers, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles. "We've become a lot more sophisticated in our thinking recently."