Social mobility in Britain : low and falling

S ocial mobility – or 'intergenerational mobility' as economists prefer to call it – measures the degree to which people's social status changes between generations. It is seen by many as a measure of the equality of life opportunities, reflecting the extent to which parents influence the success of their children in later life or, on the flipside, the extent to which individuals can make it by virtue of their own talents, motivation and luck. The rapid increase in UK income inequality that began in 1979 is sometimes justified by the argument that society is now more meritocratic so that it is easier for the poor to become richer if they are willing and able to work hard. In fact, our research shows that the opposite has occurred – there has actually been a fall in the degree of social mobility over recent decades. Children born to poor families are now less likely to break free of their background and fulfil their potential than they were in the past. The fall in social mobility can be illustrated by comparing two sons born in 1958 and who left school in the 1970s (those individuals tracked in the National Child Development Survey) where the parents of one earned twice as much as the parents of the other. The richer son would earn on average 17.5% more in his early thirties than his poorer friend. For two comparable boys born in 1970 and who left school in the 1980s (tracked in the 1970 British Cohort Study), this advantage increased to 25%. The wider focus of our research is to understand better whether the extent of social mobility in Britain and its recent decline are mirrored in other developed countries. The results show that Britain has mobility levels of the same order of magnitude as in the United States, but well below Canada, Germany and the Nordic countries. What is more, the decline in mobility in Britain between the 1970s and 1980s is not replicated in the United States even though inequality was rising in both countries. Education has been seen as a route to greater intergenerational mobility. So it is natural to ask what role education plays in the recent decline in mobility and whether it can help explain why mobility has fallen in Britain but remained constant in the other countries. Our research highlights how the relationship between family income and children's …