Poverty, hard work, and the odds

[nancylebov]

There've been some recent discussions of working one's way out of poverty, with a lot of specific life stories and anger all around. What I haven't seen is any discussion of the odds. If a person who starts out poor is frugal, works hard, and gets an education, what are the odds of them making themselves stably not poor?

It seems reasonable that the frugality/hard work/education strategy is the best one, and it clearly works some of the time, but it isn't obvious how much luck (whether good luck or lack of devastating bad luck) is needed for a successful outcome.