Change over Time in the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantage

Abstract

A major goal of social democratic welfare states has been to reduce the impact of social origin on the life chances of individuals. If the universalistic and egalitarian policies of these states were successful, we would expect the effect of social origin on social disadvantage to decline across cohorts. We study the impact of parental income during childhood and adolescence on four forms of social disadvantage in Norway. These are receipt of social welfare assistance, unemployment, low educational attainment, and becoming a teenage mother. The data consists of a maximum of 30 complete birth cohorts. Our results indicate that there is a systematic impact of parental income at all levels of the income distribution. Those originating in the poorest families do not stand out as a marginal group. The prevalence of youth employment, teenage motherhood, and low educational attainment decreases during the period we study, whereas receipt of welfare benefits is more stable over time. If we focus on relative inequality, however, intergenerational transmission of social disadvantage does not decline over time. The impact of parental income is rather stable or even slightly increasing.