Pasaron a ganar

Question

I am wondering what exactly "pasar" means in the following sentence.

"En el mismo sentido, los niños que tuvieron importantes problemas físicos, cuando se hicieron adultos pasaron a ganar un ingreso familiar que era en promedio 9 por ciento más bajo que el de sus contrapartes saludables."

I understand that it is saying that as adults, the troubled children earned 9 per cent less, but what function is "pasar" serving? How come it does not simply say "...adultos ganaron un ingreso..."?

My guess would be that "pasaron" is sort of like "they came to earn" or something similar indicating that there was a change of state over time, but that is a sheer guess as I could not really find what I am looking for in the dictionary here.

Thanks for your help with this bit of grammar.

Answer 1

pasar

This definition from our dictionary is my guess:

1. With the preposition a and some infinitives, to proceed to. (n)

great - 00494d19, Mar 29, 2011