As noted in the Huffington Post this week, a new report indicates that progressing to higher levels of the socioeconomic ladder than one's parents is becoming more difficult in the United States as compared to Canada and to European countries.

Therefore, staying within the same socioeconomic group as one's parents, or social immobility, is becoming the new norm in the U.S. More worrisome is a form of social mobility, but one that is downward. In downward social mobility, individuals do not even reach the socioeconomic levels obtained by their parents. Such downward mobility along the socioeconomic ladder is likely to increase in the near future, given the incredibly high unemployment levels that are making life so difficult for so many.

So until the federal government works directly to reduce the social inequalities (e.g., creating more and new jobs, eliminating vast differences in public schools' preparation of students' ability to succeed in higher education, as well as health insurance that isn't tied to one's job so an individual can have more control over his/her choice of work without worrying about if and to what extent the job provides health insurance) that are likely to be responsible for the failure of people to get ahead, it becomes increasingly important for an individual to engage regularly in a process of exploration regarding his/her career identity within the current historical context.