Children in Australia’s poorest households have about 10% chance of becoming top earners, research shows

Treasury research found most severe poverty is ‘particularly entrenched’, but children far more likely to progress than in US

Children born into Australia’s poorest households will have little more than a 10% chance of becoming top income earners in their lifetime, according to new Treasury research.

However, Treasury research on intergenerational income mobility, to be released on Friday, found children in the bottom fifth of households were “60% more likely” to make this leap than in the US, where just 7.5% make it into the top fifth by income.

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