Overview

• The analysis of birth cohorts 1968–1987 reports markedly weaker chances of economic ascent for people born from the 1980s.
• Ifo co-author Julia Baarck says parents’ income began exerting roughly twice the influence on children’s education and later earnings by the late 1970s and early 1980s.
• Andreas Peichl of Ifo reports that Germany’s income mobility now resembles that of the United States.
• The decline in mobility coincided with a sharp rise in income inequality during the 1990s and 2000s, which Peichl calls a “toxic mixture” for equal opportunity.
• Federal Education Minister Karin Prien calls the findings alarming and backs stronger early childhood support and targeted school funding as responses.