Promoting social mobility, rewarding effort and providing everyone with an equal opportunity to succeed in life are fundamental principles of democracy and core values that are shared by all OECD Members. They also constitute key elements for fostering resilient economic growth, social cohesion and trust in government, as documented by the OECD’s longstanding work on the trends, causes and effects of inequality. In this context, the landmark 2018 publication A Broken Social Elevator? provided a comprehensive empirical review of the trends and drivers of social mobility across OECD and non-OECD countries. This review helped identify patterns of social mobility across countries, as well as the barriers – both shared and specific – that they face. It made a strong case for policy interventions to address these barriers early in life, to break the cycle of disadvantage, and throughout the life-cycle to equip people with the skills and resources needed to adapt to a changing socio-economic and technological landscape. Finally, it outlined an agenda for further research on social mobility and equality of opportunity.
To Have and Have Not: How to Bridge the Gap in Opportunities is the seventh in a series of flagship reports on inequality that started with the publication of Growing Unequal? in 2008. It is also the first in this series to be released under the OECD Observatory on Social Mobility and Equal Opportunity. The Observatory was created in 2022 to consolidate the OECD’s efforts to collect evidence, provide analysis and support effective policies in these priority areas. The report aims to move the research agenda forward by extending the analysis conducted in A Broken Social Elevator? along two lines that are of high relevance to policy.
First of all, the report develops a new measure of inequality of opportunity based on recent methodological advances. This measure can support policy by providing (i) a clearer picture of the extent to which disparities in outcomes are due to uneven opportunities and to circumstances that are beyond an individual’s control; and (ii) an indicator that aligns more closely with the way in which citizens understand economic fairness and evaluate policies designed to ensure a more level-playing field for all.
Secondly, the report disaggregates the analysis and explores the geographic dimensions of economic fairness through the crucial role that place has in shaping opportunities. In order to do so, it looks at within-country disparities in terms of access to some of the key drivers of social mobility, including education, employment opportunities and essential services.
From there, the report assesses the new insights that can be drawn from these analytical extensions, as well as their implications for policies designed to promote greater opportunities, foster social mobility and ensure a more level playing field for all.
Reflecting the cross-cutting nature of the agenda and the high priority given to the promotion of social mobility and equal opportunity, this report was prepared by a team of analysts from the OECD’s Centre on Well-Being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE), Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELS) and Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE).
Carlotta Balestra, Head of the Inequalities Unit (WISE), coordinated the project and supervised the preparation of the report. Chapters 1 and 2 were co-authored by Carlotta Balestra, Guillaume Cohen and Neil Martin (WISE), with statistical support and input from Alessandro Facchini (WISE) and Carmen Sanchez Cumming (formerly at WISE). Chapter 3 was co-authored by Josep Espasa Reig (CFE), Sebastian Königs (ELS), Ana Moreno Monroy (CFE), Cem Özgüzel (CFE) and Javier Terrero Dávila (ELS), with statistical support from Eric Gonnard (CFE), Angela Lopez (CFE) and Garyn Tan (ELS) and literature support from Yohei Yoshizawa (ELS). Chapter 4 was co-authored by Stefano Filauro (Sapienza University of Rome) and Neil Martin, with input from Carlotta Balestra and Caterina Cognini (formerly at WISE) and statistical support from Alessandro Facchini. Neil Martin (WISE) edited the report for publication.
The authors wish to thank OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann for the support provided to this project through the Secretary-General’s Allocation Fund (SGAF). We are grateful to Romina Boarini (Director of WISE), Nadim Ahmad (Deputy Director of CFE), Mark Pearson (Deputy Director of ELS), Rudiger Ahrend (Head of the Economic Analysis, Data and Statistics Division, CFE) and Stéphane Carcillo (Head of the Jobs and Income Division, ELS) for their guidance and comments on the content of the report. We are also grateful to the member-country delegates to the OECD’s Working Party on Social Policy, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee and Working Party on Territorial Indicators for their review and discussion of earlier drafts of the report. Thanks are also due to Anne-Lise Faron (WISE) for preparing the manuscript for publication, as well as to Taylor Kelly, Martine Zaïda (both WISE), Juliet Lawal and Johanna Gleeson (OECD Directorate for Communications, COM) for providing support on communication coordination.
Finally, the authors acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed to OECD colleagues, to the participants in a technical webinar organised for country delegates in January 2025, in the March 2025 meeting of the OECD Trade Union Advisory Committee’s Working Group on Economic Policy and in the September 2025 meeting of the OECD’s youth advisory board YOUTHWISE, as well as to various outside experts, for their inputs, comments and insights. They include Lucas Leblanc, Atte Oksanen and Andrew Paterson (CFE, OECD), Bert Brys, Diana Hourani, Michaël Sicsic and Kurt Van Dender (Centre for Tax Policy, OECD), Marissa Plouin, Glenda Quintini and Angelica Salvi del Pero (ELS, OECD), Paolo Brunori and Pedro Salas-Rojo (International Inequalities Institute, LSE), Clément Dherbécourt (DREES, FRA), Michael Förster (IEP de Paris), Darrick Hamilton (AFL-CIO), Florian Hertel (European University of Flensburg), Daniel Kostzer (ITUC-CSI), Gautier Maigne (France Stratégie, FRA), Alejandro Ruiz (INEGI, MEX), Volker Schmitt (German Social Insurance European Representation, DEU), Filip Stefanovic (TUAC), Chris Thompson (New Zealand Treasury, NZ) and Rudi Van Dam (FPS Social Security, BEL).