Changes in Intergenerational Mobility and Educational Inequality in Estonia: Comparative Analysis of Cohorts Born between 1930 and 1974

Abstract

We analyse intergenerational social mobility in Estonia comparing four cohorts born between 1930 and 1974. The article addresses three main research questions. First, how have absolute mobility rates changed in Estonia? Second, what have been the trends in social fluidity across birth cohorts? Third, what is the role of education in explaining changes across cohorts? Separate analyses are carried out for men and women. Analysis is based on data from the Estonian Social Survey, 2004-2005, which gathered retrospective information about the work histories of respondents as well as their social origins. We find that social fluidity certainly varies across cohorts but not in any way that could be characterized as a trend towards greater or lesser inequality. Comparisons of cohorts born in the 1930s and in the 1940s showed that social fluidity increased for both sexes. The increase continued for the cohort born in the 1950s but only for women belonging to that cohort. For men the association between origin and destination started to increase in the cohort born in the 1950s. For women that trend was noticeable for the youngest (1974) cohort. Our conclusion is that changes in social fluidity, across cohorts in Estonia, have been driven by changes in educational inequality.