Data Analysis and Related Applications, Volume 2

3Intergenerational Class Mobility in Greece with Evidence from EU-SILC

In the present chapter, the degrees of intergenerational social mobility in Greece are investigated, in order to provide up-to-date evidence on the changes in the mobility patterns for both men and women aged between 30 and 60 years. The main purpose is to examine the relationship between the socio-economic status of parents and their children and the evolution of the mobility patterns between different birth cohorts. For the analysis, we use data drawn from the EU-SILC, and the European Socio-economic Classification (ESeC) to measure the mobility between the social class of origin and destination. Applying the Markov system theory, and a wide range of measures and models, this work focuses on the magnitude and the direction of the movements that are taking place in the Greek labor market, as well as the level of social fluidity. Three-way Markov mobility matrices are presented, where the transition probabilities between the classes of origins and destination are calculated for different cohorts. A wide range of absolute and relative mobility rates, as well as distance measures are also estimated.

3.1. Introduction

Intergenerational mobility concerns the transitions that take place in a social system from one generation to another. It has traditionally been used as a proxy for the measurement of social inequalities and social justice and also as an indicator for the “openness” of the society. The weaker ...