This article assesses second-generation socioeconomic mobility using the most recent data available for eighteen ethnic groups from the Current Population Survey. In contrast to prior predictions of second-generation declines in mobility, this analysis finds significant progress in the second generation, both when that generation is compared to first-generation proxy parents and when compared to native peers of the same age cohort descended from what I identify as “proximal host groups.” The analysis also underscores the significant data limitations that continue to plague assessments of intergenerational mobility in immigrant-origin populations, pointing to the urgent need to collect new and better data against which researchers can benchmark socioeconomic attainment for the post-1965 third generation, which will enter young adulthood in the next decade.
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