Was everything better in the past? In Western countries, nearly all children born in the 1940s and 1950s achieved a better standard of living than their parents. This has become very hard for young people today.
"Absolute mobility" (the chance of earning more in real terms than your parents) has been falling for decades. In the States, this is often called "the fading American dream", but the same trend is found in many countries, including Germany.
More than 90 per cent of the baby boomers went on to earn more than their parents did, while only 50 per cent of those born in the 1980s did the same.
In some ways, life is better today
- We are healthier
Japan's life expectancy at birth
Born in 1960: 65.3 years (men) 70.2 years (women)
Born in 2000: 77.7 years (men) 84.6 years (women)
- We are better educated
Percentage of German school leavers who are eligible for higher education
1975: 20.4% 2020: 46.8%
- We are more productive
Australia's Productivity Commission measured the amount of work needed to afford a new car.
1990: 17 months 2019: 5 months
In other ways, life is worse today
- It's much harder to afford a house
Between 1965 and 2020 in the US (adjusted for inflation)
House prices increased by 118%
Average incomes increased by 15%
- Wealth is distributed less equally
Share of taxable income earned by the top 1% of earners in America
1975: 9% 2018: 22%
- Education costs more
From 1962 to the late 1990s university education in England was effectively free. University fees were reintroduced in 1998.
Cost of a year of full-time undergraduate study (adjusted for inflation)
1998: £1,567 2021: £9,250
Mobility varies a lot. Americans have less than an 8 per cent chance of moving from the bottom fifth of the income scale to the top fifth. In Canada, however, it's nearly 14 per cent.
In China, where more than 800 million people have escaped poverty, absolute mobility is high (everyone is getting richer) but relative mobility is low (the poor aren't catching up).
In all countries, access to education makes the biggest difference. US workers with a college degree have real wages 86 per cent higher than those without.