A broken social elevator? How to promote social mobility.
Presentation by Stefano Scarpetta, Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD
Webinar 15 June 2018.
A Broken Social elevator? How to promote social mobility
1. How to Promote Social Mobility
A Broken Social Elevator?
LIVE WEBINAR
Friday 15th June,
16:00-16:30 CEST (Paris time) / 10:00-10:30 EDT (Washington DC)
@OECD_Social
2. How to Promote Social Mobility
A Broken Social Elevator?
Stefano Scarpetta Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD
Stéphane Carcillo Head of the Jobs and Incomes Division, OECD
Michael Förster Senior Economist, Jobs and Incomes Division, OECD
3. Join the discussion
Ask questions and comment throughout via the
webcast chat function.
After today’s event, don’t forget to follow us at:
@OECD_Social
@stescarpetta
Publication URL: oe.cd/social-mobility-2018
For more information: www.oecd.org/social
4. The OECD has been at the
forefront to document the rise
in inequality
“Inequality can no longer be treated as an afterthought.
We need to focus the debate on how the benefits of growth
are distributed.”
Angel Gurría, Secretary General of the OECD
5. A Broken Social Elevator?
6 main messages
There is a lack of
social mobility in our
societies.
High levels of
inequality and low
social mobility
reinforce each others
Sticky floors prevent
movement at the
bottom. Sticky ceilings
protect better-off
families at the top.
This has economic,
societal and political
consequences
It could take 5
generations for the
offspring of low-
income families to
reach the average
income level
We can make our
societies more mobile
by designing policies
promoting social
mobility
6. Source: OECD Income Distribution Database (www.oecd.org/social/income-distribution-database.htm), as at 15-Jun-2018
Note: the Gini coefficient ranges from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality). Income refers to cash disposable income adjusted for household size.
Data refer to 2015 or latest year available.
Large country differences in
levels of income inequality
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
Emerging economies
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.5
Gini Coefficient of income
inequality
OECD countries
Moreinequality
7. Rising trend of income
inequality
Source: OECD Income Distribution Database, www.oecd.org/social/income-distribution-database.htm. Note: Income refers to real household
disposable income. OECD-17 refers to the unweighted average of the 17 OECD countries for which data are available: Canada, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the
United States. Some data points have been interpolated or use the value from the closest available year.
Trends in real household incomes
1985 = 1 OECD-17
0.8
0.9
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Top 10%
Mean
Median
Bottom 10%
8. 8
More inequality does not
mean more social mobility
OECD24
DNK
NOR
FIN
SWE ESPNZL
GRC
CAN
BEL
AUS
JPN
PRTNLD
IRL
KOR USA
ITA
GBR
CHEAUT
FRA CHL
DEU
HUN
ARG
INDCHN
BRA
ZAF
COL
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Earnings mobility across generations today
Inequality 25 years ago (Gini coefficient)
Moremobility
More inequality
9. It would take 5 generations for a
descendant of a bottom-10%
family to reach the mean income
2
3 3 3
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
6 6
7
4.5
6
7 7
9 9
11
6
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Number of generations it would take for descendants of families
at the bottom 10% to reach the mean income in society
10. Sticky floors at the bottom,
Sticky ceilings at the top
Children from disadvantaged background struggle a
lot to move up the ladder
% of people in the upper earnings quartile, by father’s earnings position
0
10
20
30
40
50
60 %
Father in the bottom earnings quartile
Father in the top earnings quartile
11. Patterns of mobility across
countries and dimensions
United States Germany
Italy Sweden
DenmarkHungary OECD
United States
Earnings mobility
Occupation mobillity
IcelandKorea OECD
United States
Education mobility
KoreaPortugal OECD
United States
Minimum Maximum
Iceland MexicoOECD
United States
Income inequality
DenmarkHungary OECD
Italy
Earnings mobility
Occupation mobillity
IcelandKorea OECD
Italy
Education mobility
KoreaPortugal OECD
Italy
Minimum Maximum
Iceland MexicoOECD
Italy
Income inequality
DenmarkHungary OECD
Sweden
Earnings mobility
Occupation mobillity
IcelandKorea OECD
Sweden
Education mobility
KoreaPortugal OECD
Sweden
Minimum Maximum
Iceland MexicoOECD
Sweden
Income inequality
DenmarkHungary OECD
Germany
Earnings mobility
Occupation mobillity
IcelandKorea OECD
Germany
Education mobility
KoreaPortugal OECD
Germany
Minimum Maximum
Iceland MexicoOECD
Germany
Income inequality
12. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Poorest 2 3 4 Richest
%
Move one quintile or more up
Stay in the same quintile
Move one quintile or more down
Similar patterns of low
mobility at the bottom and at
the top over shorter periods
A majority of people remain stuck at the bottom/top of the
income distribution
Income changes are shaped by
Share of individuals moving up, moving down, or staying in the same income
quintile, disposable income, 4 years, early 2010s or latest
13. Risk for lower middle-income households to slide down to the bottom
Risk to fall down the ladder in
the middle
Share of individuals from lower middle income groups (2nd quintile) moving down
to the lowest income quintile, 4 years, early 2010s or latest
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Greece
Spain
Belgium
Denmark
Slovenia
Austria
Australia
Hungary
Chile
United Kingdom
Italy
Ireland
France
Finland
Turkey
Poland
United States
Portugal
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Norway
Germany
Latvia
Sweden
Luxembourg
Korea
Slovak Republic
Estonia
OECD34
14. Why policy-makers should
care
• Social mobility is not a zero-sum game.
• It can be win-win for all.
economic
societal
political
15. There is room for policies to make
societies more mobile
Countries which in the past spent
more on public education tend to
have higher educational mobility
Countries which devoted more
resources to health tend to
feature higher health mobility
SVN
DNK
CZE
BEL
AUT
SWE
LUX
HUN
DEUPOL
FRA
KOR
IRL
NLD
CAN
ITA
EST
PRT
AUS
GRC
ESP
ISR
GBR USA
OECD26
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 20 40 60 80 100
Health status
mobility
Health resources 2005
BEL
CZE
DNK
FIN
FRA
DEU
HUN
IRL
NOR
PRT
SVK ESP
SWE
GBR
USA
OECD15
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5
Public expenditure on education as a percentage of the GDP in 1995
Intergenerational
educational mobility