The End of Educational Mobility: Toward a Two-Class Structure in Austria’s Educational System?

This contribution deals with (a) educational achievement, (b) intergenerational educational mobility, and (c) changing patterns over time in Austria since World War II. Data from the Social Survey Austria of 1986, 1993, 2003, and 2016 are used. Contemplating the 27-to-46-year age group at different points in time, effects of an expanding and changing educational system on intergenerational educational mobility patterns can be analyzed. Results show that educational attainment of the Austrian population has increased. Nevertheless, changes in inequality structures are harder to identify. The available findings suggest that intergenerational mobility is coming to a halt and that two educational classes are evolving and closing: a class with a vocational training background and a class with a tertiary educational background.